Rainbow Veins
by 2theSky
Summary: "Good grief, Barry! This is illegal!" Well, so is housing evil creeps in a secret prison. And if someone just saved Iris' life, Barry's pretty sure he owes them one.
1. Cheer Up

This was probably the worst day on record.

First, a new intern had apparently been born with two left feet and spilled a large Starbucks coffee all over Iris and her desk. He had been incredibly sorry, and when he tried to clean up the spill, he mistook (somehow… the good Lord only knew how) a file of research on another desk for paper towels.

Then Eddie had called, saying he wouldn't be home tonight. Or any night in the next three days. Something about training… Iris had zoned out after his statement of "I won't be home"; the only thing acting as the glue to hold this crumbling day together was the fact that they had made made plans later on. Which were now dashed to bits.

But if that wasn't enough, she'd left to meet up with her father for lunch, which wasn't the bad part. It was the traffic on the way back to work, thanks to an accident involving a tractor trailer, a mini-van, and an already battered Honda Fit.

And then she got assigned that story, covering the accident and the four lives lost. Instead of covering something exciting and thrilling involving Central City's resident speedster, she was covering something that she'd hated to drive by in the first place; the bodies weren't exactly, well, in any shape or form that resembled a human.

So…

now she was leaving late, her white shirt stained with a splattering of coffee sticking to her chest and stomach (thanks to whoever ordered extra sugar in their coffee) and hidden under her blue coat. Iris ran a hand through her dark hair, her chocolate eyes clouded with stress and fatigue as she headed for her car.

Iris sighed as the weight of the day seemed to increase on her shoulders. It was ten at night, according to the bank sign across the street. Picture News had discovered a string of muggings and robberies in the area, and she wasn't too thrilled with the time she was-

"Oh, look at the pretty… pretty lady."

Iris jumped, halting only ten feet from her car. The voice- clearly male- sounded drunk off their feet.

"Ah… you- you're right," another voice growled, a slight slur covering their tongue. "And she's got a big purse…"

Stupid Eddie for insisting on buying her this giant purse for her birthday! It was a beautiful black leather purse though, and apparently the blasted thing was a thief magnet.

Great.

Iris slowly turned around to see three men, not two. One was definitely drunk, if the unfocused gaze, flushed skin and swaggered steps on his chubby were any indication. The other two were taller, and definitely the stronger ones. She took as step backwards, and slowly another. If she could just make it to her car… her keys were in her hand, so she could unlock it quickly-

Before she could react, one of the men was instantly at her side, grabbing the purse and twisting it from her grasp, spilling the contents across the cracked sidewalk. Her new iPhone skidded over the concrete, a few little drops of water showing on the screensaver. Iris almost rolled her eyes at remembering it was supposed to rain tonight. Lovely.

The thief started rummaging through what was left in the purse, the other man who wasn't inebriated grabbing Iris and pinning her against her car. His face was hidden by a ski mask; the two sober ones were masked. How original.

Drunk and clumsy, the shortest one toddled over to Iris, smirking and getting right in her face. She grimaced at the smell of both dinner and alcohol punctuating his every shaky breath. Iris could feel her heart pounding, hammering against the prison of ribs inside as his hand went to her side, his buddy moving away slightly, still holding her down. "You reeeally are pr-pretty…"

Oh, this was definitely the worst day ever. Paralyzed by fear, all the boxing lessons her father had taught her went out the window. Iris was terrified. And no one else was around.

The man's hand went to her hair and as he started to whisper in a drunken murmur in her ear, Iris would've sworn she sat something moving in the dark and dank alley stretching out between a liquor store (whoever was in there wouldn't care) and a vacant building that used to be a toy store. She wished Eddie was here. Or Barry. Or her father. Or that the Flash would just show up.

But Barry and Joe were working on a homicide case.

Eddie was out of town.

And the Flash was probably saving some little old lady's kitty from a tree.

So this didn't look good.

The man suddenly smashed his lips painfully against Iris' cheek, making her wince. He looked right into her eyes, his dark orbs burning with lust. "I-"

"Leave her go!"

All three men turned towards the newcomer who Iris was silently praising in her head. She turned her head slightly in order to see who had shown up.

But she didn't get a chance to see them at all as all three men, even the obsessed drunk, pounced at the newcomer, her purse abandoned as the rain started to fall a little more, drips and drops transitioning to drizzle. The one man cursed as he pulled back his fist alone with the others and they started hammering her rescuer who was now hidden by a blur of punches, kicks, and slaps.

Iris quickly grabbed up her keys from where they had fallen as soon as she was pinned. She unlocked her car and at the same time grabbed up her phone, grateful her voice wasn't shaky as she said loudly, "Yes, 911?"

The men quickly looked up, then bolted, falling for her bluff. Well, the drunken fool tried to; he fell on his face and had to be helped up as he men fled with, after a quick examination of her purse, only ten dollars. Iris opened a car door and threw in her purse. That was horrifying… she'd come so close to-

A groan cut off her relieved train of thought, derailing it entirely as she remembered the mysterious savior who'd showed up. Iris turned and gasped at seeing a figure laying on the cold, wet ground. She knelt down next to them, no longer caring that her newest pair of dress pants were probably destroyed. Slowly and carefully turned the person over onto their back and off their stomach.

Iris gasped again at seeing their torn and tattered purple hoodie, spotted with stains, had fallen from their head, revealing a mop of brown hair twisted into a braid that fell to their (okay, this was definitely a girl's) mid-back. The girl looked to be about sixteen, taller than average- though not by much- and very, very thin, like they hadn't eaten decently in some time. Judging from the state of their clothes, their parents probably couldn't afford much of anything. The girl's tan face was smudged with dirt, several splotches of purple and blue appearing on her face thanks to the muggers. She groaned and eyes fluttered open, revealing pallid blue irises staring up. So no concussion. That was a relief.

But the girl just whispered, "Are you... okay?" and her eyes rolled back, falling limply back into oblivion.

Iris looked around to see if anyone was around and instead spotted a grey Nike bag, held together with duct tape, several holes not covered; it was probably the girl's, if the look of her clothes was a parallel. Iris didn't know how badly the girl was hurt, but it didn't look horribly bad. For whatever reason, Iris didn't want to take the child to the hospital. But without Eddie being home…

Iris made up her mind quickly and gently scooped the girl into her arms, amazed at how light she was. She somehow, with a skill level that circus performers would envy, got the rear passenger door open and laid the girl down on the back seat, finding it convenient that when she'd cleaned the car last week, she'd laid two blankets over the back seat.

"Thank you…" Iris trailed off, looking the girl over again as she noticed a red streak on the girl's lower left thigh. That… it was definitely blood.

Quickly, Iris closed the car door and turned to get into the driver's seat, but remembered the bag and grabbed it, placing it on the front passenger seat. It was heavy, but Iris didn't have time to look through it. Instead, she started the car and started driving, glancing back occasionally at the child laying unconscious in her car as it poured outside.

* * *

Iris bit her lip as she knocked on the door, hoping someone would answer quickly. She glanced back at her car, the girl still unconscious. She truly hoped she was making the right choice with-

"Iris?" her father looked half asleep, still dressed from work, his gun holster still in place. He frowned. "What's wrong?" he asked, noting her soaked and disheveled clothes and a huge brown stain on her shirt. "What happened?"

Iris hesitated a moment before saying, "I… Eddie's not home, and something's come up, and-"

"What is it?" Joe asked, looking over her shoulder and through the rainfall, seeing a blur lying on the backseat of his daughter's car. "Is… who's in your car?"

Without a word he followed Iris quickly to her car, and she opened the door. Joe gently grabbed the child up, concern washing over his features at the thought of what in the world his daughter had seen or been through to find a child in this condition. And at that, what had the child been through? He almost reached for his gun at the sight of blood dotting scrapes and bruises on her face and neck from what looked like a fight. "You think it'll be better if she's here," Joe said, not asking. "How'd you find her?"

"Long story short," Iris opened the front passenger door and grabbed up the battered bag, "three guys… tried to mug me," she figured her father could fill in the blanks, "and she intervened."

"She doesn't look strong enough to hold off three guys, "Joe said incredulously, shaking his head. "How-"

"Iris!" Barry came running from the house, his blue eyes wide. "What- who… what happened?"

"Get the first aid kit," was Joe's response as they hurried through the rain, hoping the injuries weren't severe. Iris grabbed the door and held it open as her father stepped inside, Barry following in… what he wearing that before? Iris gawked mentally at Barry's incredibly baggy sweats that looked a little bulky, and his socks were ones from a ski trip three years ago. Dorky knee-high wool socks she'd bought as a gag gift. And he'd never worn them.

Until now…

But now wasn't the time. Barry wordlessly handed Joe the first aid kit and helped him pull the girl's hoodie off, a damp puddle pooling on the darker wood floor. She had on a t-shirt just as battered underneath it, a plain grey shirt. Joe sighed as she started checking her over, pausing to look back at Barry and realized just how suspicious his son looked in that outfit. "Uh, Barry, her clothes are too wet. Run upstairs and grab a shirt."

Barry nodded and jogged up the stairs at a pace that just felt far too slow, painfully slow. As soon as he was out of Iris' sight, he dashed about in a yellow blur, changing out of the sweat pants and sweatshirt and pulling off his suit from beneath; late night robbery that pulled him away from the case they'd been working on… He pulled the clothes back on and grabbed a couple of shirts, one from his room and one from Joe's, not sure what size was needed. But in his haste and zooming from room to room, his foot hit a cord stretched out which just happened to be his phone charger and Barry tumbled, slowing down just as he hit the floor. He shook his head, mumbling about his stupid phone and quickly plugged the cord back in and laid his phone on the nightstand by his bed instead of in the middle of the room on the floor. He went down the stairs slower.

"Barry, what was that noise?" Iris asked, taking the shirts from him.

"Uh, I fell." Oh, like that didn't sound entirely lame.

"Fell?"

Barry nodded, watching as Joe dabbed a cut with antiseptic and the girl didn't react. "Yeah, uh… tripped over a cord. No big deal." Clumsy, late Barry Allen… he wanted to slap himself so bad right now. "How is she?"

"No concussion, thankfully," Joe informed the two, now pressing a flesh tone bandaid over a cut on her forehead, just over her thin eyebrow. "Nothing's broken, but she'll definitely be sore. And I still have to look at whatever happened to her leg."

Iris grabbed a thick red plush blanket off the one couch, one already under the child so the dark leather couch was protected. "Dad, I'll take a look at it. You and Barry go-" and cue the oven timer dinging at the perfect time "-check on whatever that is."

Joe stood, knowing Iris was probably going to get the girl out of the soaked clothes and though he was a cop who'd seen just about everything (and he'd been married and raised a girl), she didn't want the girl feeling awkward or embarrassed. He pulled Barry along to the kitchen and he smirked. "Well, looks like we have a house guest."

Barry just nodded, waiting for Joe to ask-

"So, what was up with the robbery?"

And there it was. "Bank was robbed, little old lady was a hostage- Cisco was actually right for once- and that's about it."

Joe nodded, pulling a frozen pizza out of the oven. "And you decide to hide your alter ego activity by pulling on clothes that no one's seen you wear before?"

"What? The clothes aren't new-"

"They're all from that blasted ski trip, remember? Iris bought you those socks because they annoyed the crap out of you."

Barry ducked his head, chuckling. "Okay, it was the first thing I grabbed. Think she noticed anything?"

"Thankfully, no."

Barry smelled the pepperoni and sausage wafting up from the meatlover's frozen pizza and sighed. "How many more of those do we have?"

"Four."

"Okay. I'll need them all."

Joe laughed. "Okay, bottomless pit. Speaking of food," he was suddenly serious, "when was the last time you think that kid ate?"

"Well, a human can go thirty or forty days without food, but I'm highly doubting it was that long." More like hoping, Barry noted, wondering how hungry she was when just stopping a robbery had his stomach trying to eat itself. "Maybe a day or two?"

Joe sighed. "I hope she's alright, whoever she is."

"Background check?"

Joe nodded. "Background check, as soon as we get a name."

Barry grabbed a piece of pizza and inhaled it. "Okay, so the crust tastes like cardboard," he commented, grabbing a bottle of Lipton iced tea from the fridge.

"And you had time to notice what it tasted like with how fast you ate it?" Joe lightheartedly scoffed, rolling his eyes. "Let's go back in. I… think it's safe now."

Barry just smirked at the awkwardness of his last comment and they headed in with the pizza on a plate with a hot pad. Sure enough, Iris had the girl pulled into a shirt that was far, far too big for her frame. "How was her leg?"

"Deep gash, but I don't think it needs stitches," Iris answered, grabbing up a piece of pizza when her father silently offered. The black shirt reached the girl's mid thigh. "I'm so sorry for bugging you both after a long day-"

"No, it's fine, sweetie," Joe cut her off, hugging her. "Looks like we all had a long day."

Barry grabbed the blanket from earlier and draped it over the girl as she shivered, mumbling something intelligible before becoming still again. "I'll stay up with her, " he volunteered, sitting on the floor by the couch. "You-" he motioned to Joe "-clearly need the sleep."

Both Barry and Iris had seen the dark bags under their father's (well, for one of them it was adoptive father) eyes and he didn't even argue; besides, Barry had the two days off for personal leave. Shortly after, Iris left at her father's urging. More like pushing. Out the door.

Barry's gaze lingered on the door that had whisked Iris away into the night, out of his sight. Joe noticed Barry's stare after the door and cleared his throat, causing Barry to jump. He smirked and shook his head. Barry looked tired as well, most likely from the events with Ronnie and Dr. Stein that had wrapped up when the two flew off yesterday. It felt weird to think that someone just flying away, after combining with another person because of some sciency stuff Joe couldn't get his head around , was now a norm in his life. It-

A quiet moan interrupted his thoughts and both men were instantly by the couch, Barry grabbing a cool Dasani water bottle off the table (how'd that gotten there? Iris?) and twisting the cap from it. The girl's eyes opened, revealing brilliant blue eyes, the irises pale but seeming to flicker with electricity beneath, the edges around the pupil twisting a darker blue. She squinted up at them before her eyes flew wide open and, though she was weak, she grabbed at the couch, trying to press herself into it.

It was obvious she was in pain, and Barry knelt by the couch, hands out to show he wasn't someone to fear. "It's okay. We won't hurt you."

Her eyes darted to the water, then to Barry, next Joe, then around the room, and finally settled back on Barry. "Who… who are you?"

And she sounded like her throat had been run over by a tractor trailer. Barry was quick to introduce both him and Joe. The girl just nodded and took a deep breath, still slowly trying to disappear into the couch. At the rate of a snail so he wouldn't scare the girl, Barry raised the bottle to where she could reach. She just looked at it, not moving. He wanted to sigh in exasperation, but figured that wouldn't get them anywhere. "There's nothing in it. It's just water."

The girl reached out with about the same speed as Barry had been to offer the bottle, then snapped it out of his hand, quickly swallowing half the bottle in one solid gulp. She licked her lips, one drop of water managing to trickle down her chin. "S-sorry," she said softly, her voice sounding better already.

Barry frowned and Joe voiced his thought of "Why are you sorry?"

"I'm bothering you. You're both obviously tired, and somehow I wound up here… always in the wrong place, " she finished with a whisper, slowly taking a smaller sip this time; Barry was sure if she were to continue drinking at the rate she had been before, she'd have easily drank Lake Michigan. "How… how'd I get here?"

"My daughter brought you," Joe stated simply. The girl nodded and then shook her head, mumbling something. "What's that?"

"I…" she bit her lip. "She should've just left me behind…" her voice was getting weaker with every word and her eyes rolled back , the spark in them flickering out as she passed out. Barry quickly- not too quickly- retrieved the botle form her smudged hands as Joe gently laid her back onto the couch.

Joe looked at Barry. "Well, we can run that background check in the morning."

Barry stood up along with Joe after the blankets were swaddled around the wiry figure once more. "Joe?"

"Yeah, Barry?"

"She didn't give us her name."

Joe froze as he stood up. Glanced back at the couch's occupant.

That kid...

"…shoot."

* * *

_-this is my first time writing anything Flash-related, so i really hope i'm doing okay with it. i've seen most of the episodes (sorry, but the occasional language rating is something i kinda shy away from, so that's about three episodes i haven't watched), and i really hope the characters are portrayed correctly. if you have any tips or thoughts on the chapters (this one or ones to come), please leave a review; i like getting them so i know what to improve or what works, and i really appreciate them._

_sorry for any typos :( i'm worn out. the next chapter should be up next week._

_have a good day (or night... whatever time it is!) and God bless! :)_


	2. And Dry Your Damp Eyes

"This is weird…"

Both Dr. Wells and Caitlin stayed focused on their tasks at hand, Cisco's comment heard, but written off as the norm. "What is, the last episode of _The Walking Dead_?"

"No."

Caitlin guessed again. "You misplaced your replica of the _Back to the Future_ Delorean?"

"No."

Wells tried his hand at a guess, a small smirk pulling at the corners of his lips as he looked at a readout on Gideon's new schematics, cleverly hiding the readout from his two loyal friends' view. "You realized naming every super villain is getting monotonous?"

"No! Guys… I think there's another speedster out there."

Caitlin immediately jumped up from her chair and stood over Cisco's shoulder. He was watching a security camera's footage from a fire two weeks ago in an apartment complex just two blocks away. A camera across the street in a pawn shop showed a blue blur whipping in and out of the inferno, rescuing children trapped on an upper floor. They dashed away as the building was engulfed in flames that licked it away and into nothing. Her eyes were wide. "Blue lightning?"

Cisco nodded. "Yeah, but it doesn't look like they're quite as fast as Barry. Top speed they're going here is three hundred miles an hour- you can actually see part of them." He gestured to the now paused screen and sure enough, unlike Barry, the clothing they wore was visible. Jeans blurred by the blue and a hoodie with its hood pulled low over their face.

"Them…" Wells frowned deeply. "You can't tell if it's male or female?"

"You make it sound like we're observing a lab rat," Cisco muttered. "Too blurry. And the clothes could go either way. Witnesses didn't see them at all. They just said the kids appeared out of nowhere in the middle of the street." He was now reading off Picture News' article on their site. "The kids were all at a birthday party in the building and…" he sighed, clicking his tongue twice as he thought. "Another speedster… think we thought track them down?"

Both looked to Wells who seemed a little distracted. Cisco's dark eyes searched his mentor; what if Joe was right? Not about Barry's mother's murder, but… what if Wells was housing some sketchy skeletons in his closet? The guy just didn't seem focused today. True, that happened to them all at some point, but it was like he was completely in another world, lost and taken in by it completely.

"Dr. Wells?" Caitlin tried to get his attention, just thinking he wasn't feeling well.

"Yes?" He looked up from the readouts and said, "Oh, the new metahuman. Not yet. Don't track them unless they show up again." And the returned to whatever he was working on.

Both friends just looked at each other and shrugged, Caitlin not noticing the extra weight Cisco's shoulders slightly slumped beneath.

* * *

"Her name's Grace Darrow."

Joe looked at Barry, took a sip of his black coffee fresh from the Keurig, his eyes as dark as the brew, and then asked, "How did you-"

"Looked through her bag."

"Barry!" At first, Barry couldn't quite judge by Joe's tone if he was mad or impressed; he hated when that happened growing up. "That's genius!" He shrugged though. "Granted it was an invasion of privacy... and I'm pretty sure illegal 'cause we're cops..."

Barry just chuckled and rolled his eyes, literally inhaling a bowl of Mini Wheats. "She's still asleep."

"Kid's probably exhausted." Took another sip of his coffee and briefly wondered what the result would be if Barry's powers came in contact with a cup of regular, caffeinated coffee. Joe glanced at his watch. 7: 13 in the bright and sunny, if not foggy, morning. "She might be out for a good part of the day-"

Something fell with a loud "THUMP". Both men jumped and Joe abandoned his coffee on the cool granite counter before bolting to the living room.

Their house guest had managed to tumble off the couch, landing on the blankets that had been covering her. She was awake now, and she looked just as scared as last night. Barry was the first to move towards her, asking, "Are you alright?"

She nodded and glanced around, much like the night before. She pushed herself up and stood, grabbing the blankets from the floor and laying one on the couch, folding the other one and completely avoiding Joe and Barry's eyes. Joe sighed; the kid was scared. "How do you feel?"

Grace shrugged. "I'm fine."

Joe frowned. The kid couldn't possibly be fine. "Mind if I take a look at your leg?"

"… my leg?" The girl glanced down, just now realizing she was wearing a t-shirt that reached her knees; her eyes widened for only a moment, but she didn't seem fazed. Through the black shirt the bulge of the bandages was noticeable. She sat down and pulled the unfolded blanket over her lap as she nodded, slightly shivering.

Joe gently pulled back the blood-spotted bandages, removing them. He fought back a gasp, eyeing the injury critically. She didn't even look at Joe as he gently- as gently as one could- dabbed the gash with an anti-septic soaked cotton ball. Both Barry and Joe noticed she didn't even flinch when the wound stung.

Joe replaced the bandages and stood. "Well, it's healing nicely," he said with a slight pause. "Now… before we didn't get your name."

The girl looked up. "Oh. My name's Grace. Grace Darrow."

Joe smiled slightly and nodded, patting her shoulder; this action, however, caused her to flinch.

That was not a good sign. As a cop, that was most definitely not a good sign.

Now would be a blasted good time to run that background check.

Barry's mind was instead on the fact that Grace was looking at the water bottle on the table, the one from last night. It was lukewarm, but she was thirsty, so… He picked it up and handed it to her. Grace was incredibly timid…

what happened to her to make her so boxed in? So quiet?

Or was she just afraid of them?

Well, it did have to look roughly strange in her eyes. Waking up in a random house with two complete strangers - who just happened to be male. Being beat up by three guys just prior to being brought here by Iris…

Barry sighed. He was home today and tomorrow; he could definitely get some answers.

But looking her up and down yet again, Barry figured it was best, as Joe headed out for work with a new cup of coffee because his had gone cold, to get some food in the kid first.

And maybe get her some sweatpants so she'd stop shivering. It was only February, after all.

* * *

"Okay, so… here's what came up."

Barry looked over this shoulder as he washed the dishes, moving just slightly faster than a normal person could as he finished the last bowl from some simple canned soup… six cans, to be exact. He hadn't expected her to eat as much as him, but she had and was now getting a shower (her eyes had lit up at Barry's suggestion as soon as they had finished eating). He adjusted the landline phone - stupid cord!- on his shoulder. Man, the thing was bulky. Thank the good Lord for the modern miracle called a cell phone. "Whaddaya got?"

"She's Grace Marie Darrow. She's seventeen, almost eighteen, a history genius if her grades are anything to go by, she played soccer since eighth grade, and she's a model student."

Barry frowned, biting the edge of his lip and rubbing it between his teeth for a second. "You're leaving something out, Joe."

"Barry…" a static-filled sigh crackled over the line, police hustling and bustling about int he background. Joe's voice dropped to a whisper as he said, "She's been dead for over a year now."

Dead…

Barry almost dropped the phone. Dropped the dish towel instead and wiped his hands on his jeans before gripping the phone tightly. "What?"

"Her record is here. I'm staring at the death certificate. She was killed in a car accident along with her parents the night the particle accelerator-"

Barry's green eyes were wide. "Car accident?"

"More like catering truck accident." Detective West clicked his tongue off his teeth. "Says here her body wasn't found, but the vehicle was just a charred shell."

Barry nodded, hearing the water from the shower stop running. She'd be out here soon. "Thanks, Joe."

"How's she doing now?"

"Uh, still pretty tired-"

"There's one more thing."

Something else? What else could there be? "On her file?"

"No. Grace's-"

Joe was cut off and Barry heard the captain yelling something he couldn't decipher. "Gotta go, Bear," Joe said quickly, hanging up.

Barry placed the phone back on its cradle and picked up the dish towel, wiping down the counter and turning around to see Grace standing there. "Woah…" This… was Grace?!

"Thanks again," she said softly, wearing an old t-shirt and pair of sweatpants of Iris' that she'd left behind and that fit relatively well. Still big, but a far better and more comfortable fit than a mens' shirt. Her skin, which Barry had assumed was tan from its tone, was actually quite fair, the same tone as his. And her hair wasn't dark brown; it was a fiery, vibrant red, sticking up in random places like a lion's mane… and it was wet. It looked like she'd had to cut it back hastily, but somehow the unruly mop suited her. She looked better now, but the bruises and scrapes and scars were all highlighted by her lighter skin. "I… I haven't felt this good in a while."

"N-no problem," Barry stammered, wanting to kick himself. He forced a smile and asked, "So… what do you say we just veg out and watch some TV?"

Grace smiled and nodded, heading back to the living room, and Barry noticed at some point she'd folded all the blankets and fixed the couch. She was sitting on the couch, her battered bag in her hands, pulling out a well worn leather case, a cracked pencil case, and a bag with a teeny tiny travel tube of toothpaste and a ruffled red toothbrush and a small container of dental floss. She slipped that back inside the bag and opened the leather book up to reveal three notebooks and a little leather book that looked a lot like a - before Barry could confirm his theory she slipped it and two of the notebooks back into the case and tucked it all into her bag. "Whatcha got there?"

"A notebook," Grace answered simply but not rudely, cracking open the pencil case and pulling out a purple mechanical pencil with a stub of an eraser.

Barry almost laughed at the response, watching as she started scribbling something down on a new page. "Seriously, what are you doing?"

"Writing."

"Writing what?"

His tone of a curious and slightly annoying six year old had Grace looking up at the smirk on his face, smiling herself; so the kid COULD smile! "Diary," she explained with three syllables.

"Ah." No, Barry hadn't peeked into her diary to figure out her name; her name was engraved on the leather case in a grey. He picked up the remote and started flipping through the channels. A few minutes later, the purple swirled notebook was being tucked back into the case. Grace tucked her arms around her small frame, reveling in the feeling of actually being warm. After ten minutes of watching _The Avengers_ on some random channel -great, it was half way over- Barry glanced at her and sighed mentally, figuring it was time to start asking questions. "So… what happened?"

If Grace was nervous, she did a good job of hiding it; it helped that she seemed to be naturally fearful of people. "What happened when?"

"With Iris, last night?"

Grace looked away. "Um, she was out late and three jerks decided she made a good target."

"For…?"

"It's three guys -one of which was drunk- and one woman with a huge purse." Barry almost laughed at that; he thought he was the only one who noticed the purse could house a Great Dane. "What do you think she was a target for?" Grace wasn't being snappy about her response. In fact, she sounded tired.

Barry was grateful for this kid. "So you just jumped in?"

"More like yelled and became a human punching bag…" she rubbed her left arm, face slightly scrunched up in discomfort. "Not the worst I've been, though."

This had happened before? Barry's stomach dropped as he thought of two things. One: If Grace had been through worse, just how much worse had her previous experience… or experiences… been? How had they ended? And two: How had Barry managed to get so attached to some stranger in under twenty-four hours? Granted, it was known that people usually liked his quirky nerdiness and kind heart, and Joe had said he always saw the best in people, but it felt like he was… like he was Grace's older brother somehow.

And he didn't want anyone hurting her.

"How do you feel now?"

Grace shrugged again. "Fine." She looked at Barry and smiled at his look of "there is no way on earth you feel even remotely fine". "Seriously. I'm okay. Always had a high pain tolerance."

Barry nodded slowly; something seemed just a teeny weeny bit off with how she'd said that. Her inflection, or…? Barry figured he would chew on that little detail later. "So," no good way to ask this, "how did you wind up on the street?"

Grace's eyes were shining brightly as she explained in a quiet voice, "My parents owned a catering company. We were driving home from an event and were hit by a truck. The truck was transporting some sort of chemicals and the catering van and truck caught on fire." She fiddled with her thin fingers, deeply lost in thought. "We… the ground was shaking so bad from the particle accelerator at STAR Labs going off that we skidded into each other. I was thrown from the back of the van because I didn't have a seat belt on. I dropped something and it rolled… funny how something so stupid can save your life."

Barry sighed. So the van exploded with her parents inside. "I'm so sorry."

Grace nodded once. "It's okay. It was a year ago. I miss them a lot, but… I had to move on."

"On the streets?"

She looked up slowly. "Okay… that part's a little rough. I ran as soon as the truck and van exploded, grabbing my bag which- good Lord only knows how- got thrown out of the van as well. There wasn't anything to save afterwards… It was just an inferno. All I knew was my head hurt, there was blood running down my face, my parents were gone, and…" she took a shaky breath. "I just ran. I don't know why, but I did. And it hurt. All I remember is that it hurt like crazy. Next thing I know, I'm waking up i-" she quickly covered whatever she was going to say and recovered with, "under a tree in the middle of nowhere. It couldn't have been far, and with the chaos in the city, no one noticed the accident for two days. And I was automatically presumed dead. I didn't figure all this out until weeks later when I actually felt decent enough to stumble back into Central City."

Observing Grace, Barry noticed a scar slashing across Grace's pale forehead, very faint but still an angry pink hue. So that must've been where the blood running down her face came from. She continued, her voice no longer shaking. "I got a couple odd jobs after a while when my wallet started running low. Thirty-five dollars doesn't last real long," she said wistfully.

Barry figured he better ask. He smirked. "What exactly do you have in that bag of yours?" Not like he didn't know… but he wanted to double check.

Grace grinned, chuckling lightly. So it wasn't a sore topic. Good. "That leather case you saw earlier, some clothes, my wallet with… um, let's not talk about the moths flying out of my wallet whenever I open it-" they both laughed at that, "my history book that my teacher surprisingly let me keep, a box of expired granola bars, gum, and a roll of duct tape."

The kid seriously knew how to maximize space; there was no way that all could fit in there without some strategy on Grace's part. It was a drawstring gym bag. "So, now that you know my life story," Grace joked (but Barry was positive something major was getting left out here), "what about you?"

Barry stretched back on the couch. Hands behind his head, sock-covered feet on the coffee table; Barry was glad he'd switched out of those ridiculous clothes from last night, now in jeans and a sweater, and normal socks. "Long story short, my mom was killed mysteriously when I was younger, my dad got framed for it-" what? He wasn't wrong there, "Joe adopted me, and I work as a forensic scientist for the police department."

"Sorry about your parents," Grace said quietly. Barry shook it off and in moments had her smiling again with an anecdote from work. Something in him didn't want this girl to look sad, not if he could help it. He-

_Riiiing. Riiiing._

Cisco's ringtone. He was still insisting it needed to be the _Star Wars _theme, but that could wait. Barry jumped up and fished out his phone. "Yeah, Cisco?"

"Dude, there's a robbery going down at Jitters. The robber has hostages."

Barry nodded. "I'll be there."

"And dude," oh no… "Caitlin's one of the hostages."

Crap.

Barry hung up and looked at Grace, who was concerned. She stood up, following Barry as it took everything in him to not fly out the door and to the coffee shop. "I-I gotta go. Something's come up a-and the police need me-"

"Go." Grace just nodded, and Barry felt uneasy as he hurried to his car, watching as Grace shut the open front door. As soon as he was sure Grace wasn't by the front window, he bolted from the car, quickly changing into his suit and running full tilt towards the shop. He realized he'd stammered with his story.

And Grace had easily bought it.

Barry shook it off, figuring he was just paranoid. He stopped just short of Jitters' seeing ten cop cars surrounding the place, cops armed and waiting tensely. "Now or never," he mumbled, running once more. He burst through Jitters' door, glass shattering everywhere as he did so.

Thirty people, between customers and employees were huddled on the floor, the robber's outfit (and ski mask) black as midnight, his right arm wrapped around Caitlin who had her hands tied behind her, and his left hand clutching a handgun as he pressed it to her temple. Barry could hear the lunatic's smirk as he greeted the speedster. "Ah, the Flash. Nice of you to show. But one more step, and the lady's gone."

"Let her go," Barry vibrated his voice just slightly, seeing Caitlin's wide, terrified eyes. "You can stop this right here, right now, before anyone gets hurt."

"I'm not giving up, Flashy Boy." Oh, that was the dumbest slam yet. "I want my money, and one pathetic life isn't going to hold. Me. BACK."

The man moved the gun just slightly, cocking it. Finger tightened on the trigger as he pulled it back-

and a rush of wind tore Caitlin from his muscled arms.

Barry didn't know what had just happened, but he seized the opportunity and threw himself at the man, easily tying him up with -somewhat comically- a roll of plastic wrap he snagged from the restaurant's kitchen. Barry then grabbed the robber, rushed outside with him, and dumped him in a plastic wrapped heap at Joe's feet. He raced until he was halfway home, then stopped and tapped the suit's com. "How'd I do, Cisco?"

"Great, man! Caitlin's on the line with Wells. She's fine. But… did you see them?"

"Who?"

"Oh…" Cisco, what… what was he hiding? Too many potential secrets were blowing about in the cool air. "You weren't here for that. Yeah, Barry? There's another speedster."

"The idiot in yellow?"

"No. This one has blue lightning. No suit that we know of."

It all fit together. "So they're who saved Caitlin?"

"Yep."

Barry sighed. "Okay. I'll come by tomorrow. Something's come up and I-"

"That's cool, man." Barry chuckled at Cisco's casual tone. "Just remember: we're training oustide."

"Got it." Barry hung up and sped home, changing back into his clothes and hanging out outside the house for fifteen minutes; he didn't want Grace suspecting anything.

As he waited, he thought about the new metahuman they'd discovered.

A third speedster…

that was interesting.

Barry had a lot of questions about them…

How fast could they go?

Did they have any other powers?

Were their powers a result of the particle accelerator going wrong?

Were they a friend? Or an enemy? Or somewhere in the vast grey area between?

And would he get the chance to meet them?

* * *

_-i make no promises about getting the next chapter up in a week; but it will be up by the end of the month! i'm really sorry :( i have a lot going on with school (physics field trip, contests, papers to write) and i really hate having to make you guys wait so long… :( i'm sorry. also… sorry for any typos or mistakes; kinda drained right now :(_

_have an awesome day, guys! :)_


	3. And Tell Me When It Rains

Cisco drove to go pick up Caitlin from Jitters'. Twenty minutes later and she still looked shaken up. Her brown hair was disheveled, her grey dress was smudged with something that Cisco couldn't quite identify as he pulled up to the curb. She was pale, her hand shaking as Joe personally escorted her to the car. "Thanks, Cisco," Joe said softly, smiling slightly and patting the roof of the car before he pulled away and back onto the road.

Caitlin's eyes were far away, staring into the recent near death experience, feeling the horror that her life was about to end.

And then Barry rushed in.

And then someone grabbed her-

"Caitlin, are you bleeding?"

Caitlin jumped. "W-what?" She glanced around, dazed.

Cisco stopped for a red light. "Are you bleeding? Look at your leg!"

Caitlin slowly managed to her her head and neck to obey her command, feeling numb and tingly from slight shock over the hectic events. Sure enough, a red splatter had claimed its home on her dress, stretching from its end at her knees to her thigh. "No…" She touched the red, some coming off on her fingers.

Definitely blood.

"Then…" Cisco jumped and bit back a startled curse as the car behind him laid on the horn, the light green for ten seconds now. He floored it and kept glancing from the road and back to his shaken friend in time with an invisible metronome. "How… what…?"

Caitlin fell silent as well. If this wasn't from Barry- she knew it had to be the other speedster, given the blue rush of wind around her- then it had to be the other speedster.

And they were injured.

Oh, this day was setting up for success all right.

* * *

Wells' eyes went wide as he looked over the results of the scans on the blood from Caitlin's shirt. "Well…" he pulled his wheelchair closer to Cisco and Caitlin, both sitting on the medical bed, Caitlin holding a cup of green tea, steam wafting up and scenting the room with an herbal citrus tinge. He held out the modified iPad so Cisco could take it from him and see the results for himself. "It appears our new speedster has some impressive speed."

Cisco looked over the results. "But they'll never top Barry's speed, according to this."

"That's right." Wells took the iPad from Cisco when he was done and announced he was heading home. His two friends just nodded, Cisco asking Caitlin in the distance if she'd be okay getting home.

As soon as he'd made it out of their sight, Wells wheeled over to the secret panel, his mind abuzz with possibilities. Everything was a blur of white and sliding doors until Gideon's voice rang out with a clear and crisp, "Good evening, Dr. Wells."

"To you as well, Gideon, " Harrison greeted. "Show me the future." He gripped the arm rest of his wheelchair tensely. It had to be in tact, it had to be in tact-

FLASH MISSING - VANISHES IN CRISIS.

Good.

Another speedster was the last thing he needed. At least, that's what Wells had thought. "Gideon, scan these results once more."

"Of course, Doctor. Scanning in progress."

The slightly frenetic tone of Gideon's voice -a result of the scanning throwing off some of Gideon's internal drive and functions- irked Wells only a bit as the scan was completed. The results flashed in place of the article from the future and Wells smirked.

This metahuman didn't have Barry's speed.

But they did have something else…

that something being a modified gene in their DNA that was dormant. And if it was charged up - Wells didn't know how to go about that yet - it would lend them the ability to travel at speeds near that of light.

Wells clapped his hands once, standing from his chair and crossing his arms. So he'd lost the tachyon device. Too bad. No use crying over spilt milk.

Especially when something just as good was staring him in the face.

* * *

"Barry, Grace," Joe called from the front door as he hauled in two massive crates of Chinese take-out as he was a little too tired to cook after hearing that there was another speedster. "Food's here."

"Coming!" Barry zipped in from the living room, his brown hair ruffled from a nap that Joe's call had shaken him from.

Joe shook his head. "Son, I love you, but if you run in the house again, I'll have to-"

"What?" Barry laughed it off. He leaned in closer and said, "Relax. Grace is in the bathroom."

"Okay." Joe nodded hesitantly. "It's enough you gave me a heart attack with that stinking super speed of yours. Don't give that poor kid one, too."

Barry nodded and pried open a container of wonton soup, starting to wonder what was taking Grace so long. She'd been in there since he fell asleep twenty minutes ago. "Grace, food's here!" Joe called again, looking at Barry in concern when the kid didn't respond. No thumping down the stairs. No call of reply.

Nothing.

Barry looked to Joe. "You… think she's okay?"

"No idea," Joe answered tensely, glancing at the stairs.

Worry etched over both men's features as they were about to bolt for the stairs when Grace appeared. She looked fine, just a tiny bit pale. "Sorry. I-"

"You're fine, Grace." Joe grabbed a bottle of Sprite from the fridge and twisted the cap with a hiss and a pop. "Nothing to worry about." He noticed her expression was worried, like she'd upset them.

Man, this kid was holding something back. He hoped no one had… had done THAT, laid a hand on her in that way. But her submissive tone didn't have that kind of edge to it, unless Joe was misreading her in his semi-exhausted stagger through the week. Joe handed her a bowl of the soup and she smiled, a quiet "thank you" leaving her thin lips as he handed her a spoon.

Barry sat down at the kitchen table, motioning for the girl to sit by him. As she sat down and slowly ate her food, Barry couldn't help but frown. Joe noticed his troubled expression, recognizing it as one that he always had when he was thinking incredibly hard. The two exchanged a look, Barry's eyes narrowing as he tipped his head at an oblivious Grace who was only a few spoonfuls into her soup while Joe was done with his bowl.

She was hiding something.

Well they'd known that already. But he meant something else. Joe watched her carefully, hiding his observing by sparking a conservation with a meager spark of, "Ready for work tomorrow?"

Barry nodded, catching on quickly. "Yeah, uh, sure." He stood up and grabbed a box of Chinese take-out that wasn't opened yet; they always started off with the wonton soup, and as Barry sat down he opened the box, discovering it was the sweet and sour chicken. "The homicide case is just about wrapped up, right?"

Joe nodded, an alarm bell sounding in the confines of his mind as Grace shuddered. Not at what they said, but just… she just did. A tiny flash of her front teeth appeared as they dug into her lower lip.

She was in pain.

Joe opened his mouth to ask if she was okay, but quickly stopped the words from tumbling out by instead asking Barry if Iris had called. He kept his dark eyes trained on Grace as her fingers tightened around her spoon for a brief moment, her knuckles tinged with white. A quick look at her face showed the color -what color her fair skin had- drain away instantly. Joe could've sworn he heard a faint whimper.

Barry couldn't wait any longer. "Grace… are you okay?"

The girl didn't respond, her eyes boring a hole to China through the bowl.

"Grace," Barry tried again, his tone slightly panicked, "are you okay?"

Grace slowly looked up and both gasped as she looked straight ahead, her blue eyes almost grey, the electric sparkle gone. She slowly looked to Barry, her head slightly lolling to the side like she was dazed. "Wh… wha…" she couldn't even get the words to form. The spoon fell from her hand. Clattered against the bowl harshly and she winced like she had a hangover at the sound. Grace tried again to form some sort of reply, but no sound left her moving lips and before either could react, Grace fell from her chair to the floor in a heap, shaking.

"Oh God…" Joe jumped down and rolled her onto her back, her head and back against his legs as he checked her eyes. No concussion… "Grace, wh-"

"I-" She shivered harshly, gritting her teeth. "I'm s-sorry," she whispered, falling limp in Joe's arms.

Barry quickly felt for her pulse and after a moment stared at Joe in disbelief. "She…" how could he say this?! But he had to. "She doesn't have a pulse."

Joe quickly scooped her up in his arms and handed her to Barry, the two silently communicating instantly and Barry rushed off at top speed (well, as fast as was reasonable with an injured plus one) through the door. Joe quickly grabbed his car keys and locked the door behind him, hurrying for the car.

There was only one place that could, if Grace was truly gone, bring her back.

And that was S.T.A.R. Labs.

* * *

_-yay for the plot getting thicker. again, sorry for the wait on this. i'm kinda tired out. :(_

_thanks, So We Sang and MasterTeska for the reviews! :)_


	4. And I'll Blend Up that Rainbow Above You

Iris couldn't wait for Eddie to get home.

She was staring at her computer screen, fingers itching to type, to drum over the keyboard and create the rhythm of a hard-hitting story on today's hostage situation and the siting of a second Flash, or whatever they were.

But instead, every time her fingers stretched over the keys, centering over home row and ready to hammer away, Iris pulled them back; she gently rubbed a bit of her lower lip between her teeth and sighed, slumping in frustration. At least it wasn't relatively late (yet), and she was wearing something comfortable, her warm, fuzzy pajamas. And at least today had gone better, until Cisco called with the news on the hostage situation, saying Caitlin had almost died.

"Why can't I come up with something?!" Iris grumbled, throwing her head in her hands and leaning her elbows on the edge of her desk in Eddie's (no... theirs', technically) living room. "I can come up with perfectly good stuff on the Flash, and I can't write this?!" She slammed her computer shut and sighed.

Maybe procrastinating till tomorrow morning was the best plan.

* * *

"Cisco! Caitlin!"

Both turned as Barry yelled, both agreeing to stay a little longer to supposedly work on creating a new suit for Barry, considering at this rate he'd need a closet full if they kept getting destroyed. Truly, they'd stayed because Caitlin was still shook up, and Cisco was trying to avoid being home so as not to have to answer his phone in case his oh so loving family decided to call.

Cisco's brain registered what he was seeing first. Barry holding what looked like a teenage girl. An unconscious teenage girl. Who was really pale. Oh boy... "Who is she?"

"She doesn't have a pulse," Barry gasped out, hurrying towards the medical bay, quickly but gently laying her on a bed and stepping back as his statement jolted his friends into action. Caitlin grabbed a stethoscope and Cisco started getting out a defibrillator from somewhere that Barry was too tense to notice.

"He's right," Caitlin quickly announced, her face filled with worry for a person they'd never met. How did Barry come to meet them anyways? "How long has she been like this?"

Internally, Caitlin was ready to burst, and her eyes showed her inner panic clearly. As if today could get much worse... nearly dying in a hostage situation, finding out the new speedster was injured, and now discovering a most likely gone past hope teenager.

Fate really had it in for her, apparently.

"What caused this?" Cisco chimed in, his words a rush of syllables as he started hooking Grace up to monitors in the hopes she could be dragged back from death's door.

"Uh, Grace, two minutes tops, and not sure," Barry gasped out, watching as Cisco grabbed a blood sample from Caitlin and started scanning it to cross-check it with any medical records in the Central City General Hospital database. Maybe it was just an allergic reaction...? "Joe's on his way too."

Caitlin frowned, not sure what to do for only a split second, because even a split second couldn't be afforded. It was far too costly. She didn't know why, but she grabbed up a different stethoscope from a drawer at the foot of the table, quickly attempting to hold onto any sliver of remaining hope that there was some semblance of a hear-

Thumpthumpthumpthumpthumpthump-

"That... That's not possible."

Barry and Cisco heard Caitlin mumble, but didn't catch what left her tightly pressed lips. "What?"

"She has a heartbeat..."

...what?!

Barry looked at Grace in shock. "But..." he looked to Caitlin for the answer. "How in the world-"

"I think that's how."

Both followed Cisco's pointing finger that trembled in a mix of awe and curiosity-laced relief. They noticed he was pointing to the stethoscope dangling from Caitlin's neck-

The same one they'd used when Barry was in a coma months ago.

Before anyone could react Joe rushed into the room, panting after shattering every speed limit restraint in his blasted way. "Barry, here's something I forgot to tell you-"

As he leaned on his knees to catch his runaway breath, Joe's eyes went from Grace's still form to the group's shocked faces, and then to the stethoscope and back to Barry at last as he finished his statement with, "earlier."

* * *

Something cool was pressed to her lips, dragging Grace from the brink of unconsciousness and oblivion. Her lips parted slightly and she could feel a slow, painfully slow, trickle of water run over her parched tongue and as she swallowed it, it soothed her desert-dry throat. She took a semi-deep breath and forced her eyes open; against their will of wanting to sleep, they finally did.

And she was staring at a total stranger.

Grace's nimble fingers twisted in the blanket thrown over her exhausted frame, trying to hide her fear as the woman looming over her called to someone, "She's awake."

"Grace!" She relaxed very little at the sight of Barry and Joe as they appeared. Both looked tired. Barry looked disheveled. He looked concerned. Why? What had happ-

In the bathroom.

Chinese take-out.

…passed out.

A loud and obnoxious "crap" rang out in her fog-filled mind as Grace tried to sit up, laying on a soft bed in what looked like a high tech med bay. What…? Before she could think anymore, Barry asked quickly, "How do you feel?"

Grace shrugged weakly, wincing at the motion. "I…" man, was she drained. "I'm fine."

"You passed out from malnutrition and exhaustion."

A new voice echoed and Grace jumped, not noticing as the woman at her side tensed as she did. Jumpy teenager…

A man with dark hair and glasses perched on his nose wheeled into the room in a wheelchair and Grace knew he looked oddly, distantly familiar. "I would hardly classify your current state as-" he raised his hands for air quotes "-'fine'."

Grace swallowed the growing knot of dread in her throat and stared at him a second longer. He was… oh, who was he? He- "You're Harrison Wells," she found herself saying before he brain even registered it.

He grinned, nodding his scholar head once. "Yes, I am. And you are…?"

"Grace Darrow." She swallowed again and everyone noticed her grimace as the work the water had done faded, leaving her throat a mess of stinging needles and pinpricks.

The woman handed her the cup she'd drank from before and gently patted her shoulder. "When was the last time you ate?"

"Um…" Grace glanced at Joe and Barry before taking a small sip of water so she could actually get something other than a painful cough to escape her lips. There was the soup… "What day is it?"

"You passed out four hours ago," Joe informed her and she nodded in thanks at the information.

"Then it was earlier today."

The woman looked up from some tricked out iPad thing Grace couldn't, in her feeble state, identify. She looked very tense and stiff; was she okay? "First of all, I'm Caitlin," the woman gave her name, "and second, I mean when was the last time you ate enough?"

Grace frowned at that, her temples throbbing at the change of her facial expression. "I-" What did that mean? "Earlier today," she repeated, confused.

Barry shook his head and decided to sit on the edge of her cot. "No… what Caitlin means is-"

"When did you last eat enough?"

Another newcomer appeared and though Grace was thoroughly interested in knowing the dude with the Star Wars shirt's name, she now knew what they meant as he'd stressed the word to give it away.

Grace looked around, her eyes wide at first before she sighed and stared at the blanket in front of her, the dark blue fabric suddenly the most fascinating thing in the room.

They knew.

She sighed once more. Looked to the side, still avoiding their eyes. Then finally she closed her eyes and said in a low voice, "I… I haven't."

* * *

Everyone was startled at this.

Everyone but Barry, who felt his stomach twist at that; she said she'd had little money while she was alone, but… now knowing she was also a speedster, it made the whole thing that much worse. She was starving. She was thin because her metabolism burned through things at a rate just a smidge slower than his did. He wondered briefly what lengths she had gone to just to stay conscious, or alive till this point, what she'd had to eat in order to keep going.

Cisco glanced around, eyeing the IV running into Grace's rail thin arm before shattering the resounding silence with, "I'll, um, get something…" and he left.

Grace refused to meet anyone's eyes, her eyes now closed. Joe sighed, deciding someone had to say something or else the silence would smother him. But instead of turning to Grace… "You put that food away, Bear?"

"Huh?" Barry was startled from his sympathetic stupor. "Oh, yeah. I did."

Grace's only move was to bite her lip. She looked so tired… Joe frowned deeper than he had been in the last few hours. "Why don't you-"

And before anyone could blink Barry was gone.

And Grace still didn't look up.

Instead, she opened her eyes and curled her bony hands together, left wrapped inside the right, massaging the bruises there. "He's fast."

Caitlin jumped at how casual she sounded. Barry had just ran- as four hundred miles per hour- out of S.T.A.R. Labs and all the kid could say was that he was fast. Caitlin caught the hint of a smirk on Grace's lips as she mumbled just loud enough to hear if one were straining, "The yellow lightning's pretty cool."

Joe chuckled, the tension easing up in the room bit by painful bit. "Blue is, too."

Grace shrugged. "Yellow looks better."

Joe watched her carefully, remembering her school picture from before everything in her life had crashed to a halt. She was bigger, far bigger than she was now. She'd weighed about one hundred fifty pounds, a lot of that muscle from tuning so deeply into soccer. Now, she was tiny; Joe remembered seeing a belt in the bottom of her bag, amidst the clothes that seemed too big for her frame.

She had changed.

But still, it appeared that her character was in tact; Joe had seen far too many good people twisted into shells of their former selves. Her files were lengthy, detailing her accomplishments in school and on the soccer her teachers had left remarkable comments on her report cards. Other files (he'd done a good amount of digging) contained records of emails from parent teacher conferences past, saying how Grace basically lived up to her name, quiet and respectful, and a tad bit shy. Otherwise, she was outgoing and enthusiastic.

Now if Joe could just figure out how to get the last two bits of her personality to break through...

Barry was back quickly, holding the crate of Chinese food that he'd ran back to the house to put into the fridge after Grace was stabilized and he'd remembered they'd left their meal strewn about the kitchen. Grace looked confused as he sat the crate down. "Food's here."

Cisco ran in, holding a syringe that was strangely tinted orange. What…? "Okay, this is a calorie booster that can be mixed in the IV."

"How many calories?" Dr. Wells asked, wheeling over to look through the Chinese take-out.

"About fifteen thousand." He quickly injected the mix with another vein of tubing into the IV and watched as it turned a transparent peach color, Grace's eyes immediately lighting up at the rush of energy flooding her system. He noticed the food. "Hand over the sweet and sour!" He grabbed up the carton and fished a plastic fork out of the bottom of the box.

Joe just chuckled lightly as Barry handed him the container of lo mien. Handed it to Grace, who looked up, still confused. "What-"

"You need to start eating more… and if Barry's metabolism is any indication, a lot more." Joe patted her shoulder and this time she didn't flinch. She nodded slowly and took the plastic fork Cisco offered. Her tired eyes were slowly regaining their vibrant blue color as she started eating slowly, watching somewhat nervously as the others all grabbed something to eat, Barry literally inhaling whatever he'd grabbed up; he'd eaten too fast for her to notice. How he did that, Grace didn't know.

Cisco laughed. "Think we're gonna need more food at this rate."

"Cisco's right." Wells nodded, using a napkin (where had that come from?) to wipe the tiny bit of sauce from the corners of his mouth. "I left my phone in the other room. I'll call for pizza."

Everyone just nodded, no one noticing as Grace's eyes narrowed into slits momentarily, watching as Harrison wheeled away. She didn't trust that man.

At all.

* * *

Four in the morning rolled around uneventfully.

Barry slept at S.T.A.R. Labs that night, in a semi-soft medical cot, near Grace in case something went wrong. Everyone was stunned when Grace and Barry managed to eat fifteen pizzas alone. Grace couldn't believe she had managed it, and she looked guilty, her bright eyes dimming when the receipt from the pizza place had fallen from being glued by grease to the bottom of the box and landed on her lap. Dr. Wells quickly explained how much money he had from the lab, and that it was no problem, but Grace didn't look convinced.

If anything, she looked the same as Joe had before, like he thought Wells was up to something.

Granted, the man had his quirks; what genius didn't? And sure, there were probably days when the grief of losing Tess was too overwhelming and he snapped a little.

It wasn't anything to worry about.

Barry woke up, stretching and immediately wincing at a pain in his neck. Slept wrong… stupid cot. He massaged his neck for a moment and the pain lessened. Stood up and brushed his wrinkled clothes a little. Looked at Grace.

Still asleep.

Grace looked relaxed, the IV now gone as Cisco removed it before he left around midnight. Her hair was completely unruly, static-filled and looking like Aslan had gotten electrocuted. But still, like before, the rebellious red mop suited her. She mumbled something and turned her head slightly on the stark white pillow, wearing a S.T.A.R. Labs sweatshirt and pair of sweatpants; Caitlin had pulled her out of the other clothes in order to give her a physical after they found her death certificate floating about in Central City's records.

Barry felt a little of his concern fade as he could already tell the food she'd eaten had helped; her thin face was a little less taught, the skin relaxed some. The dark rings under her eyes were fading as looked healthier, well somewhat at least.

A thought struck him and Barry's hand rested under his chin, curled into a thoughtful fist. He had work, not today, but tomorrow. And Grace couldn't quite be left at home, not if there was any chance of her passing out again; she wasn't up to snuff yet.

"I could…" but that wasn't a great idea. Barry didn't want to dump her on Iris, like his mind suggested. And Iris had no idea about Grace's super speed, so that idea was long out, flying out the window and hurtling towards the sun where it crashed and burned.

"Or…" now that was an idea. "Yeah…" Barry grinned, mumbling to himself. "I'll take her to work with me. I'm sure Singh won't mind; I'll just bring something so she'll be occupied."

"Hey, Barry."

"De-Ah!" Barry hired around, his startled gibberish making Caitlin smile. "Wha-what are you doing up? And here? It's four-"

"In the morning?" Caitlin shrugged, pulling off her thick grey coat and draping it over a chair. "Couldn't sleep."

Barry had a guess. "Thinking about Ronnie?"

"A little…" Caitlin slowly admitted, looking a little strained. "And about Grace. She-" she stopped, raising a hand to her lips. "She's asleep, right?"

Barry nodded.

"Okay, good. I've been thinking… what do we do now? She's legally declared dead. It's not like she can just show up in society randomly! And making a teenager live here is ridiculous. And I don't think living with Dr. Wells would be best, given that she's not the best at science."

Barry frowned. "What if…" oh, this was both his best and worst idea. He didn't dare to voice it.

"'What if' what?"

He glanced between Grace and Caitlin and finally sighed, blurting out in a loud whisper, "What if we hack into her files and change them?"

Caitlin's eyes went wide. "We what?"

"We make up stuff, cover up the last few months. Say she was home schooled or juggled around with different foster homes after the accident. I'm sure there are families that recently stopped taking in kids or a state home that we could sneak her into so no one would know. And she'll be eighteen soon. We could…" oh boy, his brain went into overdrive and Barry just stopped, too overwhelmed to complete any thoughts verbally.

"That is outrageous, insanely complicated, and illegal!" Caitlin retorted, crossing her arms.

"… and yet, it might work."

* * *

Barry and Cisco looked over the chances made to Grace's records, proofing them one more time. "Annnd… everything looks good," Cisco grabbed the iPad plugged into the monitor by Caitlin and handed it to Grace, who was sitting up on her bed. Only six hours after hatching this plan, and it was reality. "Take a look."

Grace took the iPad, her face blank as she read what her file contained.

_Name: Grace Marie Darrow_

_Age: 17_

_Date of Birth: March 27th_

_Height: 5' 7"_

_Weight: 109 lbs_

_Race: Caucasian_

_Hair Color: Red_

_Eye Color: Blue_

_(Insert school picture here)_

_Records with Central City Child Services:_

_1 year on record_

_Orphaned; parents passed away in car accident._

_Status: In foster home (4 prior)_

_Behavior: …_

And the list went on.

Grace noticed they had kept everything about her (aside from forging her senior year grades and two recommendation letters, as well as a diploma from an early graduation program she'd apparently "entered") truthful.

According to the documents as well, she was currently living in the West house, with Barry as her legal guardian. Grace didn't let her worry show at this; it had been only what? Two days? And she had been far too much of a burden on them. And instead of hitting the road immediately…

she was now a ward of the state, living with the Flash.

"Look good?" Cisco asked, siting beside her.

She nodded slowly, smiling a small, incredibly minute smile. "Yeah." She handed Cisco the iPad and he grinned at his work, finalizing the changes and covering his hacker footprints.

Barry knew her feeling of unease. He was only twenty-five, and he was now a guardian of a kid…

at least now he might have some excuse to be late or miss days without it looking so sketchy.

Joe had been informed, and he'd been fine with it all.

But as Barry glanced at Grace, who looked vulnerable and uncertain, he knew it was the right thing to do. She'd been alone for too long.

It was time to change that.

* * *

_-sorry for any mistakes or typos :(_

_in case anyone's wondering, there will be no romance whatsoever between Grace and Barry; this is more of a brother-sister relationship, or a very close friendship._

_have a good day and God bless! :)_


	5. And Shoot it Through Your Veins

"You… are an idiot."

"And you're saying this why?"

Eddie didn't look up from the files on his desk, bored to death from reading the files from the homicide case they'd just wrapped up. Barry was supposed to be back today to double check the forensics, but like usual, he was already late. Granted only one minute late… but still, Barry Allen just seemed to have tardiness woven into his fate from beginning of time.

"Because you-"

"That was NOT my fault!"

Eddie looked up as he heard Barry laugh. He immediately saw his friend talking to… a girl he'd never met. Obnoxiously thin, somewhat pale, untamable fiery hair, piercing blue eyes-

who was this?

He glanced over the rest of the file quickly and closed it, standing up to head up to Barry's lab as he heard him say, "What? I didn't spill that coffee on the waiter intentionally; he ran into me!"

"You couldn't have, oh I don't know, moved?!"

Something in Barry's face was -mixed with his incredulous raise of his eyebrows- shocked, but only momentarily as his comeback was, "Okay, when I'm as fast as the Flash, then I can dodge waiters running about. And besides, " he took a long sip of the coffee in his hand, "they got my coffee wrong."

"So, the whole mishap proved so convenient for you. You got a new decaf out of it."

"That I did." Barry smirked, chuckling before taking another gulp. "What did you get?"

Eddie wondered why he found himself listening in instead of moving, but still eavesdropped as the yet-to-be-named girl responded with, "French vanilla coffee."

"Please tell me that's decaf."

"Yeah." She held up her cup, showing where it was clearly written that it was decaf. "But I'd be careful drinking yours if I were you." They headed for the stairs up to Barry's lab and Eddie followed, his feet thinking faster than his confused brain and slowly, quietly following. What was so important about the decaf anyways?

"Why?" Eddie heard Barry ask as he fished his keys from his pocket, finding them after a moment. Opened the door and held it open for the girl.

She shrugged as she walked into his lab. "Because, genius, someone might've gotten mad at you and spit in your drink."

Barry, who had just gotten a big mouthful of his delicious coffee, nearly spit it across the room. He ran over to the sink in the corner and spit it out, hearing the girl giggle in the distance. "That… is not funny," he grumbled, wiping a dribble of the brown liquid from his chin.

"Barry!"

Eddie noticed that they both jumped. Barry recovered first after a glance at the girl and asked, "Hey, Eddie, how was-"

"One word: horrible." Mostly because he missed Iris. He handed Barry the file and said, "Here's the files from the homicide-" he pretended to notice the teenager for the first time. "Who's your friend?"

Barry hesitated. "Uh, this is Grace. Grace, this is Eddie. He's-" wait, shouldn't Eddie already know who this was? "Did you see or, um, talk to Iris at all?"

"No. I just got in. I'm exhausted. Why?" He took in Barry and Grace's appearances, noting that even though Barry had had some time off, he looked tired. So did the girl. Both wore warm clothes. Grace, a purple sweatshirt and some dark jeans with Converse. Barry, a red sweater over a tan shirt and jeans. Each was carrying a to-go bag from Jittters'.

That explained a lot. "I, uh… I," Barry bit his lip to stop what he felt was entirely too pathetic stammering. "Can I talk to you… outside for a second?"

"Sure…?" Eddie was led out of the lab by Barry, who turned and closed the door as soon as they were outside it. Eddie was thoroughly confused by now. "Okay, what's going on?"

"Um… well," Barry scratched the back of his neck, "long story short, Iris kinda sorta found a homeless kid and now the kid is under my care."

What? "How did that happen?!" This seemed insane!

"Eddie, I'm trusting you with this. You can NOT tell anyone else what I'm about to tell you." He sighed, watching as Eddie nodded, waiting for the explanation. "The girl- Grace, her name's Grace- lost her family when the particle accelerator-"

"Oh, great," Eddie threw his hands in the air as he cut off his pal. "So let me guess. This kid managed to slip through the system in all that chaos? And now had just turned up?"

"Wow, you, uh… you summed that up pretty well."

This was crazy. Eddie dropped his voice to a whisper, even though no one was around, and said, "So her records are… revised?" He stressed the last word, showing that he had a hunch her records were tampered with.

Barry reluctantly nodded; he and Joe, and Cisco, Wells, and Caitlin, agreed that Eddie was the only one -oh, and Iris, too- who could be trusted with this information on Grace. Iris would be suspicious if no one told her what was going down, so Joe was at her work, informing her. He'd mentioned going for a drive with her so they were alone to talk.

"Good grief, Barry! This is-" he could barely be heard at all. "This is illegal!"

Barry sighed and started raising his hands to show he understood, that this was definitely touchy ground. "I know that. But it's either this, or she goes back out on the streets." Jerked a slightly shaking thumb over his shoulder at the door behind him which separate him and Eddie from Grace. "Eddie…" Barry played his last card desperately. If this didn't work, if Eddie didn't crumble with this new knowledge about to be presented…

"… Grace saved Iris from being mugged."

Eddie's mouth opened and closed several times with no sound, his expression mirroring a fish as he struggled to form the many thoughts in his mind into words. "S-she… she what?"

"Iris was almost mugged the day you left for training. Grace intervened and was injured, so Iris brought her to me and Joe. She's a great kid, Eddie. Please… don't say anything."

Eddie didn't answer, just staring at the doors to the room like he could pinpoint Grace. That kid… she'd…

"Eddie?" Barry snapped him from his thoughts. "Will… will you tell anyone?"

Oh, leave it to his buddy who got struck by lightning to have that pleading tone, those wide and sad green eyes… why?! "No." Eddie shrugged, finally answering. "I guess I owe the kid that much." He wasn't thrilled, not one little blasted bit, with keeping this a secret. But as he followed Barry back inside and saw Grace sitting by a window, her legs folded Indian style on a chair, he figured the girl looked harmless enough.

And if she'd saved his Iris, then she definitely deserved a chance to bend the rules around a little.

* * *

Harrison Wells stood slowly, pressing his fingertips together as he paced back and forth. "Good day, Dr. Wells."

His stone-cold mask didn't smile. "Not so good, Gideon. Run every possible search on Grace Darrow."

"Yes, Doctor."

Wells was not stupid; he could see in Grace's eyes she didn't trust him. True, he was to blame for the accident that claimed her family's life, but there was something else in her eyes that wasn't right, that…

she couldn't possibly know… right?

"Scan complete." Gideon flashed up file after file after file, the results just what Wells expected.

Their backstopped work.

He'd ran this scan twelve times before, knowing she was perfectly clean. Her records were impeccable.

So what was he looking for?

"Gideon, cut to the feed in Barry's lab."

A security camera clicked on, the files disappearing as Barry's lab at CCPD flickered to life, showing Grace watching as Barry ran some experiment. They were talking, and Wells smiled slightly at how she had started to open up in only two days. But she was still remarkably closed off.

And Harrison was determined to know why.

He left the labs an hour later, intent on going home and getting in touch with Ronnie. He stopped for a moment to think. What could Grace possibly know-

"Unless…" Wells rolled away from the room silently. He really didn't like the thought that had popped up in his head.

"Good day, Dr. Wells," Gideon toned, the door closing without a reply from the Reverse Flash.

* * *

Iris smiled a bit tensely as Barry, Joe, Cisco and Caitlin all joined her and Eddie at Jitters'. Her father had filled her in on Grace's modified records. She felt a little uneasy about that matter, but watching and seeing that Grace had started to come out of her fearful shell around Barry put her at ease… at least a little.

"Hey, guys," Eddie greeted, seeing that Iris' smile was the only welcome coming from his girlfriend at the moment.

The others replied, each sliding into the rounded leather seat around the table. Iris sat between Joe and Eddie, Joe on the outside. Cisco and Caitlin sat by Eddie; Barry and Grace were on their other side, Barry on the outside.

Grace suddenly shivered and Barry took immediate notice, shrugging off his blue and grey jacket and handing it to her. Eddie frowned. "You okay?"

Grace nodded. "Yeah. Just…" she pulled the coat tighter, smiling in thanks, "just a little cold."

A waitress appeared and handed out menus, her blue eyes apologetic as she realized she was one short. Barry quickly cut off her panicked apology by saying he and Grace could share. Everyone glanced up, watching as this quiet kid scooted closer to Barry as they both ran fingers down the menu, looking for something that sounded good.

Cisco and Caitlin exchanged grins as their friend was getting Grace to open up. Everyone was so happy this kid was finally breaking out of her isolated shell; true, she was very quiet, but at least around Barry she was talking more.

The waitress reappeared after five and a half minutes and took their orders, Iris and Eddie staring at Barry and Grace like they had two heads when Barry ordered something that Iris was sure if she ate the whole of she'd gain an extra ten pounds; it was a breakfast mash-up of four massive pancakes, four eggs, bacon and sausage, hash browns, and fruit.

And Barry had politely asked for not one, but two of that specific item.

Joe's eyes widened momentarily at the thought of skinny as a rail Grace inhaling that much food. But super metabolism…

she could do it.

Iris was shocked, to say the least. She laughed. "How in the world are you two going to eat all that?"

Barry shrugged, not sure how to answer as Caitlin, Cisco, and Joe all looked to him for his response; he was grateful when the waitress returned, serving coffee for everyone except Grace, who'd whispered to Barry if she could please have Sprite. Her eyes lit up upon seeing the drink and she tore the blue straw out of its wrapper.

Iris watched her carefully for a minute as Caitlin asked Joe something that managed to escape her occupied mind and ears. Grace's movements were guarded. She took a sip of the soda and at her small smile, Iris glanced at Eddie, both frowning slightly at how she smiled. A simple glass of soda that was probably (no, definitely- Iris had worked here before, after all) laced with the city's infamous chlorinated water supply…

Iris waited until Grace had taken a few more sips of her drink and relaxed a little before speaking up. "Grace, I don't think I got to thank you before."

Everyone went quiet and Grace shrugged. "It was nothing," she said quietly, her eyes flashing for an instant with blue pulsing around the pupils. Only Barry took notice and glanced down, seeing something moving-

Grace's hands.

Her hands were vibrating under the table as she slowly moved, slipping them into the pockets of Barry's coat to hide them. He was worried now.

Iris couldn't quite figure this kid out. "No, it wasn't nothing."

"Really," Eddie joined in, his arm now around Iris. "Thank you."

Grace shrugged again. "You're welcome. Besides," she looked at her cup, staring at it instead of the watchful eyes all trained on her, "I've had worse. A few punches isn't anything new."

"Worse?" Iris gasped. "How much worse…?"

Grace refused to look up at first, but then at another gasp from Iris realized what she was getting at and quickly looked up. "No, no, nothing like THAT. The last year has just been rough, and it's definitely not fun being the one to set a broken arm on your own." She rubbed her right elbow absently and Caitlin's eyes narrowed.

"You did what?"

"What? Some gang member got ticked off at me for, well, just existing, and let's just say I know what a pinata feels like," Grace said plainly, excepting what was in the past. "No big deal."

Joe couldn't believe this. He had to keep himself from blaring a string of vulgarity and decided to gulp down half his scorching coffee just as their food arrived.

As he did, Iris decided to try something else. "What was your life like before the last year?"

Grace grinned a little. "Pretty good. Great parents, school was going fine, helped out in the family business… it was pretty sweet." Everyone was eating by now.

Cisco smirked as Grace closed her eyes for a second, obviously praying quickly. He grabbed a piece of her bacon and hid it in his hand under the table. Grace opened her eyes and without looking up growled playfully, "Hand it over, Cisco."

"Wow, she's good." He placed the bacon back on its rightful plate as Grace poured syrup over her waffles. She looked at it a second and giggled.

Barry watched her and was puzzled. "Why are you analyzing your syrup?"

As Iris quickly hoped this kid wasn't going to launch him into a scientific lecture that only three (possibly four; she had no idea what Grace was into) at the table would wrap their mind around, she jumped as Grace mentioned what brand of syrup it was. Barry just grinned and stole the same piece of bacon Cisco had, Grace's wide eyes watching as he ate it. She held out her hand and Barry shrugged. "Okay, if you want half digested bacon, I'll spit it back up…"

"Gross," Caitlin muttered, trying not to laugh as Grace glared jokingly at Barry, mumbling something that sounded like a movie quote.

Cisco heard it, though Iris didn't catch it, and laughed, trying to talk _Star Wars_ or _Star Trek_ (Iris wasn't sure) with Grace, who was apparently fluent in that area.

Iris was still reeling. She wasn't supposed to be able to tell; she hadn't even tasted it! How would she know? Wait… Iris' thoughts jumped back to their conversation just a minute ago. what was the family business? Grace hadn't mentioned… "What kind of business did your family own?"

"Catering." Now it made sense Grace's smile faded a little. "My uncle runs it now… He's a great guy, but I know somewhere someone's complaining that the lasagna isn't as good as it used to be. My mom made it with a secret ingredient, and I'm the only one who knows it aside from her."

Eddie was about to take a drink, but lowered his cup at that. "Why didn't you find your uncle?"

"There was chaos in the city from the whole explosion, and with my luck I wasn't coherent for a while afterwards, so I was marked as dead by the time I made it back to the city," Grace explained softly, not wanting anyone to hear. "I… I love my uncle, but what's happened-" only Barry, Cisco, Caitlin and Joe knew what she meant "-would be a little too much for him. He's done well with the business from what I've heard and seen around the city, and I'm glad."

Eddie nodded and tried another tack, hopefully for some comic relief. "So Barry… never thought you'd be a father."

Joe snorted, Caitlin laughed, and Cisco nearly spit his drink across the table at a waitress walking by.

Barry shook his head. "Me neither… at least not this soon."

"And she's only seven years younger than you," Cisco jested when he recovered his breath. "You started early, man."

Everyone burst out laughing at that, even red-faced Barry and a slightly scarred Grace.

This was turning out to be a good night.

* * *

Havier Marcos glared across the city, his eyes pulsing from calm, cool, and collected grey to a violent yellow.

Wells…

it was his fault! His life had been going great before that thing blew up and… and turned him into… into THIS.

His wife and three children had found him that night, his car wrecked close to S.T.A.R. Labs, a power line having crashed over the frame. He was no longer tan; the only thing that remained of his natural appearance was his sharp face and six-pack from the gym. His family was now terrified of him and his year old ability to transform from pallid and grey thirty-seven year old into a human glow stick, his fingertips charged with enough electricity to deep fry anyone he touched in this form.

Marcos evolved into this state at unpredictable times; his wife had tried to keep their relationship going, but during a rather intimate moment he transformed and nearly turned her into a crisp. He bolted, his children and family all thinking he was dead as only his wife had been aware he hadn't passed on.

And Dr. Harrison Wells was to blame.

Now Havier's mother and father had always told him revenge wasn't right.

But now, as he stalked his way to S.T.A.R. Labs after trying desperately for a year to still be involved with his wife until tonight's incident…

he found it was his only option.

* * *

_-that same night..._

* * *

"Grace, you wanna try the tread mill?"

Grace looked up from jotting something down in her diary and hesitated. "Um…"

Barry smiled at her. "We'll go slower for you, okay? I'm used to it going at seven hundred miles per hour easily."

Grace nodded and slipped her diary away into her leather case. After a week with Barry, he'd insisted on buying her a new bag, and clothes. She didn't want them at first, saying she was costing too much. But Barry insisted and won the argument that wasn't really an argument. She stepped up slowly onto the treadmill, rolling up her S.T.A.R. Labs sweatshirt and brushing her hands off on her jeans to rid them of eraser shavings.

Cisco looked up, pulling off his Dr. Dre headphones as "Uptown Funk" streamed from the radio and he asked, "You ready?"

Grace nodded slowly again and he started it off at fifty miles per hour.

She kept up easily, her pace even. She didn't look up from the floor of the treadmill, watching her new red and grey sneakers pound off the treadmill as it sped up.

"She's steady at 140," Caitlin read off the screen. "Her heart rate is normal, but her glucose is dropping slightly."

Barry just nodded tensely, watching as Grace's blue lightning sparked here and there as they went to two hundred.

Then two forty.

Two seventy-five.

Three hundred.

Four hundred…

Five hundred…

Cisco frowned. "Guys, she's has a serious drop in oxygen intake."

"What?" Caitlin rushed to his station. "Oh no… Slow down the treadmill. Don't alarm her."

Wells took the mic. "Okay, Grace, we're going to slow it down now."

Grace didn't respond, the lightning now gone as she-

"Oh God…" Cisco jumped up, shocked. "She's-"

"Fazing."

Cisco glanced at Wells, then stared transfixed at Grace as her form morphed into two, then three, all sparked with blue. As the treadmill stopped, all three shaky blurs rejoined and Grace grabbed onto the newly added handle on the treadmill, shaking and gasping for air.

Barry was at her side instantly. "Grace?"

She didn't move, just tightened her hold on the bar.

"Grace, you gotta sit down," Barry told her, slowly getting her hands to uncurl from the bar and sitting her down on the floor. "How do you feel?"

Grace didn't answer for a moment. She finally gasped out, "Everything… th-three of everyth-thing."

Cisco ran out of the room, yelling something Barry's concerned mind didn't catch.

Wells wheeled over. "Barry, get her to the medical bay." As Barry bolted with the shaking teenager, Wells rubbed his forehead and removed his glasses, watching as Caitlin followed the other two. "Well, this just got harder."

* * *

_-sorry for the long wait (and for any typos - editing is hard to do after chasing sugar high little people all day)! i had this chapter planned out as something massive, and it took longer than i thought, considering finals are coming up. i ended up having to split it in two; the next chapter will be up around June 2nd… sorry; finals :(_

_i'm going to need a hero name for Grace. i'm sorry, but my mind just doesn't work like Cisco's… so that's where you guys come in. i need a name for our new blue resident speedster. if you have any ideas, please take just a second to leave it in a review; any suggestions will be greatly appreciated! :)  
_

_also: the cover art will be up soon! i'm uploading the photo from my iPad, so i'm hoping it's not too bad quality-wise..._

_thanks, Frog1, Guest, and So We Sang for the reviews! :)_


	6. Cause Your Heart

"So I'm guessing Mach 1 is out of the question?"

Barry shook his head, grinning as Grace shrugged. "What? Worth a shot."

Cisco shook his head as well, but not in jest. "Nope." He sounded dejected as he took a sip of his Coke Icy and added, "No super sonic punches from you…"

"Those hurt!" Barry retorted, pretty sure he didn't want Grace breaking her hand, or getting injured at all. "But how was Grace able to… to phase?"

Caitlin looked up from the computer's scans on Grace after she'd nearly passed out. She had wolfed down sixteen energy bars, stunning them all. Granted she had only gained a whole pound in the week she'd known them, but she was clearing almost as much as Barry easily. "Apparently her DNA was altered more than yours. She can't run as fast as you… yet."

"Yet? So a super sonic punch is possible?" Cisco asked hopefully, his tone giddy and his hands clasped.

Caitlin just looked longways at him and muttered, "Because that went so well before." She sighed. "Her DNA has a section that's 'locked'. It holds the genes and chemical composition possible to achieve speeds up to half that of light."

Grace's eyes went wide at that. "I… what?! That's crazy!"

"You know what the speed of light is, right?"

Grace nodded. "Yeah. I took physics in 11th grade so I didn't blow up the chemistry lab. Not the best with science." She looked down. "I don't know if I want to run THAT fast. And-" she sounded dejected at this, "I can barely run at five hundred miles per hour. How would I even last at speeds that high? Would that just be a one time deal?"

"One time deal?" Caitlin looked up, confused.

"Yeah. One time run and then explode into little micro-particles or something." Grace wiggled her fingers for dramatic effect and shuddered.

Cisco grimaced. "Yeah, let's just not touch that little strand of DNA. What would even need to happen to it for Grace to run that fast?"

"It needs to be charged," Caitlin toned, standing up and grabbing a water bottle from a mini fridge off to the side and an orange juice as well, handing the latter to Grace.

Grace mumbled a quiet thanks and smirked as Barry thought deeply. "So… she just has to avoid any more stray lightning bolts?"

"Basically, since she would need just as great a charge to activate the chemicals."

"So no reenacting Ben Franklin with the kite, right?"

Cisco chuckled. "Right."

Barry looked around a moment looking for wherever he'd managed to leave his phone. He looked up as Grace spoke. "Uh… where's Wells?"

"He's home. Not feeling well."

Grace just nodded and Cisco tilted his head ever so slightly to the side, dark eyes watching Grace's electrifying blue ones narrow. She didn't…. she wouldn't…

or would she?'

Grace didn't trust Wells.

And now, Cisco wasn't sure he did either.

Suddenly Barry's phone blared out some bizarre ringtone and he grabbed it from the top of the mini fridge. "Linda, hey."

Grace made a face and Caitlin almost laughed; it was clear that Barry and Line weren't going to last for the long haul. Grace had called it. She liked Linda, but not with Barry. They were so different, and Grace wasn't thrilled when she overheard Barry give a very vague rundown of his second date with Linda before it got cut off and "making out" was mentioned.

Cisco knew why; Grace was what he and the rest of the world dubbed as "more traditional". He'd seen her pull that little leather book from her bag; it was a well worn and well wrote-in Bible. He'd also seen her write furiously in that diary of hers'. Cisco wondered if Barry knew; Barry probably didn't give a stone's throw about whatever Grace believed, as she wasn't forcing that book down anyone's throat. But there was something… off about her. Something so reserved...

Grace had a lot of secrets herself.

And as Cisco watched her and Barry leave minutes later, he was sure they linked back to a brilliant mind bound to a wheel chair.

* * *

**(flashback to the night where "Fallout" ends)**

* * *

Very cold.

It was a bitter night, the bank signs all flickering between nineteen and twenty-three degrees as a lone figure walked past, knowing that falling asleep with so little warmth could spell disaster. Their footsteps were jumbled and clumsy, tripping one battered shoe over the other as the sidewalk blurred.

The bag slung over the shadow's back was pulling them down, threatening to plunge down through the cracked and callused ground and take their feeble life with it. They were tired… so tired…

but sleep could mean death.

So they walked.

Central City was nothing but swirls of light and dark and sky and ground melting together as they faded more. They had to stop, had to rest. Somewhere, anywhere-

a tunnel.

They looked up through their hood, sighing painfully at what marked an outside entrance to the sewers under the city. There was a piece of crumbling concrete that jutted from the flat, sealed entrance as the inevitable stench was held back by monstrous walls and they plopped to the ground beneath it, glad the only thing they could smell was the week old sweat on themselves.

Looked around, eyes darting and fearful. This part of the city was a little more secluded, but that wasn't saying much. There was a metal grate about forty feet down.

The cold figure wheezed from the biting air and pressed against the cool wall; it was frigid, but warmer than the surrounding air. This would have to do. They closed their eyes and tugged a weatherworn coat tighter around their chest and arms, hoping to retain some heat-

Whoosh.

Suddenly, something whizzed past and they jumped, huddling closer to the wall. It was… a blur. Not like everything else around them wasn't a blur because of exhaustion, but this…

a distinct yellow blur.

They shakily stood, regretting it as their body protested, joints and muscles creaking in rebellion. What in the world was that? Leaning heavily on the wall, they inched forward as soon as the grate had been tossed away and stepped from the shadows, creeping silently along, trying to sidestep shattered beer bottles and dreams long since dead.

Someone cursed, gasping, and they slowly came up on the entrance, trying to hold back the acid churning in their stomach, seeing as it was the only thing in their system that could be rejected at the smell.

"It's good to see you again, General." They couldn't see anything through the grate! They could only hear a voice, a disturbingly garbled and distorted tone that sent a shudder up their spine. Glanced around. Another grate, this one in an indent in the structure.

Moving a little faster, they came to it just in time to hear, "Who're you?"

Both voices were tense, one with fear, the other with scorn and hate. They scrunched down in the shadows, fading into the ebbing moonlight as the clouds flicked by and listened as the scary voice returned. "Who am I?"

Red eyes were the first thing they saw. And then the huddled General who was staring at the yellow man in shock-

yellow man?

This… this was the blur! But… but they'd heard of the Flash, the red streak tearing up the city's asphalt as he zoomed past. And the Flash didn't wear yellow…

so who was this?

The mask came off and they fell backward, thankfully not making a squeak of a sound as the general spoke once more, "Harrison. You're one of them… a metahuman."

Harrison…

This was that scientist! The one with S.T.A.R. Labs!

How…

He was…

Their tired mind couldn't comprehend fast enough, for the man in yellow took his turn to speak all too quickly. "Yes I am." What was a metahuman? That sounded like something from one of those comics Grampy had collected and kept in cases, stacked miles high in the one coat closet and buried beneath mountains of board games.

"And I protect my own."

Something rumbled. They got to their knees, readjusting the pack on their aching shoulders, wondering if bolting was a good idea. "Who is that?" the General asked, causing their already sick stomach to twist violently.

"That… is an old friend of ours."

In the sewers?! Wells sure had some strange friends… but with his do-good facade thrown so far out the window, then… what in the world was thing or person or… or whatever?

"…General…"

The general tensed, as did the unseen eyes, and they waited, gripping the grate to keep from running in fright. "That voice… it's in my head." Realization gripped the General's face and they saw the horror etched there. "Dear God…"

"Not 'God'. GRODD."

A loud roar erupted and a black hulk of a gorilla rushed forward from the stench-filled depths, grabbing the General and dragging him away with a loud scream, water and slime and waster splashing as the General fought.

It was time to run.

The figure rushed away, a faint trail of blue sparks dotting their path as they left, abandoning the warmth of the ledge for a trashed alley. It was better than being dead.

As Harrison Wells stepped from the sewers, replacing the grate, he looked around, sure he'd seen something, something faint, whisk by. It wasn't red; it didn't resemble Barry…

but at another scream from Grodd, he just shook his head and pulled the cowl back down. He was just tense.

That's all it was.

* * *

**(back to the same night)**

* * *

Something fell.

Barry was up, eating leftovers (basically attacking anything in the fridge) and he heard the thump from the kitchen. He raced upstairs to find Grace on the floor, holding her head. "Grace! You okay?" he gently helped her up, making her sit down on Iris' bed.

Grace glanced around and nodded, her eyes clouded instead of vibrant. "Y-yeah… I'm fine. Did I wake you up?" she asked guiltily.

"No, I'm up getting a snack." Barry frowned. "Why'd you fall?"

Grace shrugged the question off with, "Just a… just a nightmare. No big deal."

"You sure?"

"Yeah. It's a random one." This was true; it was the first time Grace had dreamed about that night, the night she found out Wells was the one she'd heard Barry speak of when he and Joe were sure she was asleep… She'd heard Barry scream one night and jumped from her own slumber to rush to his room, Joe right behind her as he hastily offered a choppy explanation of, "He hasn't had a nightmare in months," before sitting on the bed by a tossing and turning Barry and shushing him and comforting him as he mumbled something about his mother and red lightning. Grace had left quietly after Barry woke up and started crying as Joe comforted him; she knew this was a moment she didn't belong in, and left.

And that haunted her.

She knew she should tell Barry. Barry needed to know his mother's killer was staring him right in the face almost every single stinking day.

But she also knew Barry couldn't fight the man in yellow, at least not well enough just yet. And Barry would probably impulsively attack, leaving a wide berth of mistakes and fumbles that would leave to him getting his butt kicked.

And everyone at the lab was getting along fine with Wells; if she said word one, they'd all think she'd royally lost it and Wells would probably kill her for knowing too much.

So Grace had decided to keep that subject quiet, at least, until something came up that would warrant her spilling this intel.

Barry sighed sat down by her, looking at her carefully. "Grace… if you need to talk about anything, I'm here. So is Joe, and Cisco and Caitlin."

She nodded absently. Something wasn't right… something just felt off. "I… I've come to terms with everything. There's really nothing to say… nothing that you don't know most of."

"Did anyone ever… hurt you?" Barry asked, knowing when Iris had implied that same thing in her questioning Grace had denied it.

"No," she replied, looking right into his deep green eyes. "I've gotten beat up and bruised, and I've ticked off a few of the wrong people by accident, but nothing else." Her mind argued vehemently that she HAD done something, but it technically qualified as ticking off a few of the wrong people, so...

Barry believed her and nodded, slowly wrapping one arm around her in a hug. She was shocked that he was so… so at ease with the whole situation of a kid getting dumped in his lap. Granted he was a little awkward, but still… he was trying to be nice, and Grace was fine with that.

"Okay, well…" Barry tried speaking, but his thoughts didn't come out in actual sentences. "If you want you could-"

and his cell rang.

He fished it from his pocket and hit send. "Yeah, Cisco?"

"Get. Here. NOW."

Barry's eyes went wide. Cisco's voice was quiet, but the fright lacing those three words together was obvious. "Dude, what's wrong?"

"Metahuman. After Wells." And then the connection clicked to a halt.

Barry hit "end" and glanced at Grace. "I gotta go."

"I'm coming too."

"You sure about that? You managed to split yourself in three earlier," Barry asked, running down the stairs with Grace hot on his heels.

"Of course!" She looked down at her pajamas and sighed. No time to change; at least it was just sweatpants and a flowery print nightshirt, so it wasn't as bad. Barry grabbed something and his hand was a blur as Grace saw him scribble a note for Joe; as soon as he was done they bolted, a trail of yellow-orange and blue weaving through the city streets.

* * *

Havier Marcos glared at the two, his eyes burning with bright yellow hatred. "Where. Is. WELLS?!" he shrieked, his hands transforming into blinding orbs of pulsing light.

Caitlin backed into the table that Cisco was knelt behind; she could feel her knees knocking… or at least shaking, as she'd never had that whole cartoon effect happen to her. "H-he's not here! I swear!"

"You… you're LYING!" A bolt shot from his hand, hitting a metal tray across the room. Sparks erupted from it as the thing exploded. "TELL ME WHERE THAT SON-"

"Hey, watch the language!" Cisco almost smirked at the sound of Grace, her tone hard, but joking and sarcastic at the same time… and loud. She actually had volume to her mouse-sized voice. Barry had rushed in, his scarlet suit pulled on and Grace at his heels, her eyes wide at the glowing man's zombie paste-tone complexion. "Impressionable seventeen year old in the room!"

Marcos just glared. "Oh, look. Two other FREAKS Wells created."

Barry sighed. "Oh great. Another angry one."

"Yeah, it's getting old!" Cisco jumped up, his phone exposed in his right hand. He quickly hid it behind his back and watched to see if the walking glow stick (hey, that sounded good!) had noticed.

Apparently not.

Good.

"I have every right to be angry!" the man thundered, walking towards Barry and Grace. "Wells took everything from me when that particle accelerator went off. My family thinks I'm DEAD! Only my wife knows, and I ALMOST KILLED HER! All because of these stupid powers that I never asked for!"

"Dude, we can help you!" Cisco tried to reason, hands raised in a pacifist tone.

"Yeah," Barry chimed in, trying to help placate the revenge-bent maniac. "We can help you control your powers. You can be with your family again. We-"

"My kids… I haven't seen my kids in a year. My father had a heart attack two weeks after finding out I'd 'died'. He's dead. Everything I have is gone."

Grace sighed. "Look, I know the feeling, and I'm sorry this happened to you. But here's a chance to salvage some of you life! Shouldn't you take it?"

Havier scoffed. "What would a KID know? You didn't lose your family-"

"Actually, I did. My parents died that night, along with everything I knew." She glared right back at him and even Barry had to do a double take at her sudden show of, well, anything more than partial timidity. "I know exactly how it feels to be in your shoes. Granted I'm not transforming into a glowing Hulk, but I know what it's like to be alone. Please… we CAN help you."

"They broke you, didn't they?!" Havier screamed, his conspiracy theory self kicking in, paranoia overwhelming all reason. "You're brainwashed! A pathetic ploy, dragging a child into this!"

Barry shook his head. "We didn't drag her into anything!"

"Liars… I'll bet you're all controlled by that monster!" Havier bit back full on out transformation, his skin starting to itch with the vibrant glow. "WHERE IS HE?!"

"Right here."

Everyone turned except for Grace as Wells wheeled in, his expression stoic, but slightly drawn, like he'd received some awful news and THEN found out a menacing metahuman was attacking his friends. Havier grinned evilly. "Ah… now to cut down the puppet master."

And he let his inner fire blaze.

His skin erupted like a candle wick, biting with heat and crackling with power as he shot bolts from his hands. He cackled, a blast forcing Caitlin to jump and tumble to the ground in a heap. She ducked behind the desk along with Cisco, who was shocked. This was both frightening and amazing in his mind.

"Let's cut those strings of control you have over your little puppets here!" Marcos yelled, shooting a bolt at Barry, who ducked out of the way in a red blur. "See how they crumble to the ground without their controller!" He shot again, this time at Wells' chair. The one wheel was skimmed and it crisped off, the chair landing on its side and Wells falling, his glasses crashing from his face to the ground. Cracks riddled the middle, shards falling as he tried to roll onto his back.

As Havier fired bolt after bolt, missing the dashing blurs of Barry and Grace, Wells couldn't help but have a moment of panic. At his home, sipping some imported alcohol, Gideon had toned in, informing that the future was altered. Something wasn't right.

So he'd pulled up his surveillance and glared daggers at the man stalking into S.T.A.R. Labs, his fingers twitching with the need to torment and torture… and not quickly.

And then he'd raced over to the lab, pulled his spare wheelchair from the closet, and rolled in, hoping that stopping this madman would set the future back, would set it up so in 2025 Barry was mysteriously missing.

He was broken from his panic rudely by Grace shouting, "Cisco! Get down!" The desk was hit by a bolt and partially disintegrated; the blast sent Caitlin and Cisco flying backwards from the force and both hit the ground a few feet away, stunned.

Barry sighed. No way to punch him. No way to tackle him. No way to trap him. No way to stop him.

Grace dodged another blast, this one tearing into the wall and nicking something-

the sprinkler system.

Grace rushed over to the panel which was half charred and threw up the glass covering that protected the blue button from a stray bump or accidental brush. She slammed her hand into the semi-soft rubber and hoped that her mediocre knowledge of science proved correct. This guy was shooting electricity, and though water could quite possibly make this worse, she hoped she was wrong. After all, it wasn't the water itself that was the conductor-

it was the particles of salt and other minerals in it that made it a sparking nightmare.

The ceiling opened in downpours and Harrison grabbed onto his chair to try and drag himself so he could sit up, only to have to jump back as another bolt completely destroyed the chair. Oh well… there was another spare in another closet in another part of the lab.

The water hit Havier, pelting him with no effect at first, but quickly his skin started to dot with that looked like dimming bruises; there were grey spots forming and he screamed in pain. "NO!"

Grace was thrilled that it was working; apparently Cisco had finished that water purifying system for the lab that he was talking about (one that could thankfully remove particles so the water was perfectly pure), and he'd installed it. But her elated mood turned horrifyingly cold as the man mustered the strength for one last bolt, and aimed it at Wells.

And though she knew Wells was the enemy…

something deep down told her not to let him fry to a crisp, that this wasn't the right ending for him and before Barry could react, Grace was flying at Wells, pushing him out of the way as the bolt hit her. At the same time, Havier's eyes rolled back and he slumped to the floor in a grey ball of switching limbs and sopping clothes, unconscious.

The sprinklers hammered down yet at Barry yelled in horror as Grace's body doubled, then tripled, all three forms a painful blur. All three glowed brightly, becoming an indecipherable mesh of particles-

and she vanished, nothing but the soaking ground where she'd stood just a second ago.

* * *

_-sorry for… oh well. you know the drill by now. and sorry it's a little later... finals got more in the way than i anticipated._

_i figured Grace having "old fashioned" beliefs would be an interesting contrast to what is shown in the show. it'll definitely allow for some further conflict between her and Wells (or Thawne… idk what to call him :P) because of his morals or possible lack thereof._

_big thanks to Elhini Prime, So We Sang, and Lord Darth Yoda for the reviews! :)_


	7. Has a Lack

Eddie looked over his notes one last time, double-checking the report, the time it should've taken to proof read doubled because his mind kept wandering back to a girl with brilliant red hair and electric blue eyes.

Grace was on his mind a lot; Iris' as well. Both wondered how the kid was doing, but from what he'd seen of her coming to work with Barry, she seemed fine.

"Thawne!" Eddie looked up at the sound of the Captain's voice, his dark eyes tense. "Where's that report?"

"Right here." He surrendered the rough draft and turned back to his desk just as Joe walked in with coffee, handing him one. "Thanks."

Captain Singh disappeared behind two cops dragging in the robber from the report and Eddie watched Joe carefully a second before asking, "How's everything going with Grace?"

Joe smirked and shook his head. "It's going well. She's a great kid."

"Her and Barry getting along?"

Joe nodded, sipping his coffee. "No worries there. They have more in common than you'd think." Eddie could see the bags under Joe's eyes; he knew Joe had time off coming up… it couldn't get here soon enough.

"Really? She doesn't strike me as a science nerd."

"She's not. But in history? Man, that kid can be worse than Barry sometimes!"

Both chuckled, Joe sitting on the edge of Eddie's desk, careful to avoid a neat stack of paperwork. "Joe…" his voice got quiet. "How'd Grace wind up on the street for so long? Surely someone would've noticed her at some point!"

Joe sighed. "Eddie, there were extreme circumstances at the time, the kid was injured-" or in a car that was struck by lightning; it was all in the wording "-and didn't necessary find her way back into the city until after her family and friends and everyone she knew was told she was dead. Grace didn't know what to do and hid, considering she lost her parents and entire life."

"How does a kid manage on the streets without stealing?"

Joe shrugged. "I don't know. But that kid didn't. She managed to find a few odd jobs, only to have them fall flat the second they found out she was homeless."

"What kind of jobs?" Eddie was suddenly skeptical.

"Dishwasher for four days, book stacker at the library so she could get out of the cold for Christmas-" Grace said she'd been kicked out two days after Christmas for falling asleep (from exhaustion) in the corner of the kids' section "-and one local church paid her a few bucks to clean the church every week. Unfortunately that ended when one of their trustees thought they were Miss High-and-Mighty and threatened to call the cops on her and said she was lying about how she'd gotten in the church."

"Talk about bad luck. That poor k-"

The entire building shook violently, winds tearing through the windows and slashing through the glass like butter, all accompanied by a flash of lightning.

And then it went quiet only a moment later.

Eddie rushed along with Joe to one of the now destroyed windows, and Joe squinted; there was something lying on the lawn, hard to see in the dark night… "Something's out there!"

"Go!" Singh, Eddie, and Joe, along with three other officers ran to the stairs, the elevator now blown out of commission (thankfully with no one inside). Singh motioned for the three random rookies to stay back, all six men drawing their guns.

Eddie and Joe ran in front of Singh, both training their guns at a smoking spot on the dark ground, people on the street walking by or driving by stopping to stare and point, all questioning what was happening.

And then Eddie's heart thumped painfully from fear when someone inquired quite loudly, "Who is that?"

Joe took the lead and his heart stopped dead.

Grace…

The crumpled form was Grace, her body laying in a circle of smoking ground; her clothes were a little wrinkled, but nothing else. A dark red blot ran down her right arm, stretching from the shoulder to mid-lower arm. Another line, perfectly straight like the other, stretched over her forehead, about three inches long and a quarter inch wide. Looking closer, one more slash stretched over her calf where she was injured before, when Iris had found her. "Oh God…"

"Joe, who-" Eddie holstered his gun and knelt by her. "Someone call 911!" he called desperately, gently rolling her onto her back. Grace whimpered, remaining unconscious. Her lips were bleeding, like she'd bit down too hard. Her skin was an unholy ashen color, her whole body trembling. Eddie felt her forehead and gasped. "She's burning up."

Joe grabbed his phone as a medic in the crowd rushed forward, jumping between checking over the teenager and talking with 911. "Barry! What happened?"

"A metahuman shot Grace with a lightning bolt! She phased and- Joe she's gone!"

His son was frantic. "Barry, she's here, lying outside CCPD. She's unconscious and burning up. Get to the hospital. We'll meet you there."

"Joe, the hospital-"

"I know, but Barry…" he dropped his voice to a mere whisper "-she's not healing. None of her wounds are closing."

He could hear a strangled cry from someone on the other end of the line and Barry replied, "We'll be there."

Singh walked up to Joe. "What are you doing?! This kid could be dying and you're calling Allen?!"

"For your information, Captain, this KID is Barry's ward," Joe spat, his protective nature taking over. "He can't find her anywhere after they were attacked by muggers." Not the best lie, and it didn't explain the shattering light show, but Joe figured it was good enough. Barry could be knocked out long enough for Grace to be dumped somewhere else…

It could work.

Singh sighed, glancing at the girl. "She doesn't look good. And how did I not know about this? I'm supposed to be notified about these things!"

"Barry dropped the report on your desk from Child Services last week," Eddie spoke up, helping the medic with Grace as the ambulance wailed its way through the crowd.

"She's been stabbed," Singh observed, noting the slashes.

The medic looked up. "Sir, these aren't stab wounds."

"Then… what are they?"

"I'm not sure. I-I've never seen any injury like it, and I've been doing this for twenty years." His prematurely grey hair and squinting wrinkles behind a professor's glasses were proof of that. A team gently rolled Grace onto a stretcher and Joe told Eddie to go in the ambulance; granted he wasn't family, but it was a cop, so they let him jump in.

Joe stayed behind as Singh followed in his car, muttering something about calling Rob. He dialed Barry as soon as he was alone and said quickly, "Listen up. Singh thinks you got mugged. The story is that you got knocked out by two muggers, woke up and called Caitlin and Cisco when you couldn't find Grace, and you've been searching for a half hour now. Got it?"

"Yeah… you want me to relay that to Barry?"

"Cisco?!"

"Heeey, Joe," Cisco greeted awkwardly. "We're heading for the hospital now."

"Okay… tell Barry, okay?"

"Two muggers, half hour, Grace lost, got it."

"Good." He hung up, hoping they were able to pull this lie off.

* * *

"No one will believe this."

Caitlin looked at the eternal optimist with green eyes and asked, "How is it not believable?"

"Because Grace is injured, and I'm not."

Cisco sighed in the back seat of the S.T.A.R. Labs van. "He's right."

"So what are you going to do? Injure yourself so it looks real?"

Barry shrugged; he wasn't losing Grace. "Possibly…" he looked at Cisco. "Hit me."

"What?"

"Hit me! Punch me, whack me in the face with that device over there, something!"

"Dude, I am NOT hitting you."

Barry rolled his eyes. "Come on, Cisco," he pleaded. "This is for Grace. PLEASE… just punch me so it bruises good."

"But what if it heals while we're at the hospital? Won't that look strange?" Caitlin piped up, stopping at a red light and someone who apparently didn't like S.T.A.R. Labs made a vulgar hand gesture out their window.

"Yeah…. unless-"

Barry watched as Cisco pulled a drawer out from under the passenger seat's back and revealed the Cold Gun they'd used for the shield demonstration. "Oh no…"

"You still want me to hit you?"

"Not really…" Barry sighed. "But it's for Grace, so I-"

SMACK!

Cisco's fist connected with his jaw and Barry fell backwards as the van turned, wailing his head off a control panel behind him. "Ah… okay… that wasn't fun."

"This won't be either," Cisco said slowly and hesitantly, setting the gun to its lowest setting and aimed at the violent bruise, hitting it with a dusting of ice. Barry screamed in pain. "Sorry, dude."

"Gotta… do it… a-again," Barry ground out, hissing thorough his clenched teeth. "Try the ribs. Or my shoulder."

Cisco delivered a powerful kick to Barry's back instead of ribs, icing the top right back of his shoulder. He then drove his fist into Barry's left arm and frosted that too. Barry moaned, half conscious. "So… the ice'll slow my healing down?"

"Should." Cisco powered down the gun and tucked it away. "How do you feel?"

"Like I ran into a wall… again." Barry looked at his hand, blood from biting his lip staining it. "Well, there's blood now, so this looks believable enough."

Caitlin sighed. "Can you two quit roughhousing? We're here."

"Great." Barry stood and swayed. "I feel like crap." He got out of the van, Cisco holding him up so he could walk. "Let's find Grace."

* * *

Grace was immediately treated, the wounds cleansed and gently wrapped. She was draped in a cold hospital gown and laid on a hard hospital mattress in a room; Joe followed the random doctor assigned to the case closely, her blonde hair hacked around her jawline, her brown eyes filled with indifference at first, like she was almost annoyed to help out at ten at night. There was no concern for the patient at all. She looked at Joe, who was right at her shoulder and asked, "Has her doctor been notified?"

"Yes. And her legal guardian."

The nurse turned back to tending to the newly inserted IV, linked right to Grace's skinny wrist. "She's underweight," she stated with a blankness that made Joe wonder if she actually enjoyed her line of work at any given time.

"We're working on that."

Joe turned and grinned slightly in relief as Cisco, Caitlin, and Barry appeared.

And Barry looked horrible, like he'd actually been mu-

That was probably the idea.

Joe's stomach twisted at the dark bruises dotting Barry's face; how were they not healing?! "Barry, you okay?" he genuinely asked, turning to his almost-son.

Barry nodded. "Y-yeah, I'm okay…" he trailed off and stood by Grace. "What's wrong with her?"

"Mysteriously formed wounds on her leg, head, and arm, slight concussion, and severe dehydration," the doctor toned deadly.

Cisco scoffed. "Wow, someone has a great bedside manner."

She turned. "And who are you?" she snapped tiredly.

"Cisco Ramon, and Dr. Caitlin Snow," Caitlin introduced, brushing past the doctor coldly. "We're her doctors, ma'am."

"And we'll do a better job of taking care of her than you will," Cisco muttered, just loud enough for the doctor to hear. "Seriously, the Doc's bedside manner isn't helping."

"Who- What are you talking about?" Joe asked, thrilled that the doctor had left before he punched her.

"Doc… Voyager…"

Everyone jumped at the sound of Grace's voice. Cisco brushed away the stray hair that landed in her pale face; her fever was gone now, which was probably what accounted for the dehydration. "Grace? You with us?"

"Tired…"

"Okay, rest." Caitlin looked up from where she was checking the wounds. "Guys… these are from her phasing."

Joe quickly slid a chair over to Barry before he tumbled to the floor and cracked his head open before looking at the injuries more closely. "How in the world- wait, what?"

"I'll explain later," Barry mumbled, everything spinning around him.

Joe sighed, glad they were alone in the room so he could ask in a dropped tone, "How are you not healing?"

"I kinda shot him with the cold gun after I punched him," Cisco admitted sheepishly, backing away from the cop so as to remain breathing.

Joe was a little too caught up in worrying about the phasing thing that he'd missed to really register what Cisco said and just nodded. "Why… why isn't she healing?"

Caitlin looked at Cisco, who in turn looked to Barry. Barry sighed, his breath shaky from his own pain. "We think… she might've lost her powers."

"How is that possible?!"

"When Barry went up against Blackout, he got zapped and lost his for a little bit. The same thing's probably going on with Grace." Cisco sighed. "And to think…" Cisco trailed off and shook his head. "So… now what?"

"We help her recover." Barry sighed. "How does someone go through so much?"

Cisco and Joe exchanged a look. "Um, dude," Cisco piped up, "You kinda sorta are the answer to your own question."

Joe looked between the injured teen and Barry, a lump forming in his throat. He had two incredibly brave individuals under his roof. And he intended to keep them safe. At all costs.

* * *

_-yay for updating! :) seriously, i didn't expect this to get posted for another week; finals ended today, and i figured i might as well post it. sorry if the next update takes a little over two weeks; family plans coming up as school comes to a close, and i'm working on another story to post. _

_by the end of the month, all my updates will be two weeks apart. i'm really sorry, but i'm biting off more this summer and my upcoming senior year. the chapters will be longer like these, though._

_sorry for any typos :(_

_thanks, So We Sang and Lord Darth Yoda for reviewing! :)_


	8. Of Color

Grace was brought home two days later; she still showed absolutely no sign of her powers returning, and she was eating less as a result. The poor girl was exhausted, only staying in bed because Joe threatened to tie her to the bed after only being home a measly hour and stumbling down the stairs so she didn't bother anyone. And all for a water bottle.

Barry wasn't sure how to feel about the whole matter. He was glad she was now out of danger (to some degree - he'd take what he could get), but…

he missed having someone to relate to.

There was only one other speedster that they knew of, and Barry didn't feel like striking up a conversation about the wonders and mysteries of altered DNA with the Reverse Flash.

Barry glanced up the stairs, looking up from a random show he wasn't aware he was watching. Grace was taking this rather well… or just rather quietly. The only constant in her life for the last year was gone in, well, in a flash.

He just hoped she was okay.

* * *

"Good night, Caitlin."

Caitlin smiled at Cisco, the corners of her lips falling slightly at his crestfallen look. Ever since Grace had lost her powers, Cisco had been distant. The two bonded quickly over different sci-fi movies; surprisingly, for a girl who wasn't a science fan, she loved science fiction.

But something was deeper than that. And as Caitlin was whisked away from the lab and into the brisk night air, she pondered it greatly, wondering why her friend was so down.

Cisco watched the security cameras until Caitlin pulled away and he headed to the wall, his fingertips seeking out a tiny panel that lay flush with the wall. Pressed it.

The wall slid upward, revealing an indent and a transparent tube with a blue suit. It was made from the same material as Barry's, and some of the edges were tweaked with undertones from the Reverse Flash's suit. An orange short skirt fell loosely from the waist to mid-thigh, made of a lighter and more flexible version of the suit's material. The same style cowl, same com system, and instead of the lightning bolt dashing over the chest, two were placed, one on each side, just under the mannequin's ribcage.

Cisco sighed. "Guess this'll just be a dust collector now…" He pressed the panel again and the wall swallowed up the suit, hiding it from the rest of the world.

* * *

Eddie didn't know why Joe seemed so… off.

He looked worried, yet relieved. He looked stressed, but still happy. He looked scared, and yet…

Eddie watched Joe carefully for the next two days, no one at the station being able to explain away the whole light show. The unconscious teenager had been easy; Barry had received a week's leave from Singh, who was still a bit stone-faced as he said he'd like to come to visit Grace at some point.

But Joe wasn't the only one who was unreadable.

Iris was tense. They were tense. There was some sort of building friction between him and her; granted it wasn't much, but it was enough to make him wonder what was going on.

Something bigger was going on. That much Eddie was sure of.

* * *

Captain Singh pulled up to Joe West's house the next day, the rain hanging over his head as he knocked on the door. The door clicked open at Joe's hand. "Captain! How are you doing?"

"Fine," Singh clipped, stepping inside. "I came to see Grace, see if she's okay."

Joe nodded. "Barry mentioned that."

"How is she?"

Joe motioned for the stairs wordlessly, stepping into the kitchen; as Singh mounted the stairs, he swore he heard Joe mutter sarcastically, "Please, Captain, why don't you come in? Oh wait, you already have."

He saw Barry walk into a room and headed for it, hearing someone cough from behind the semi-closed door. He knocked, immediately answered with, "Joe, if this about the-"

"It's me," Captain Singh said plainly, looking on as Barry stood up from Grace's bed, handing her a water bottle. She looked exhausted; the kid was getting better, but it was slow going.

"Captain…" Barry had no idea how to say "what are you doing here?" without sounding rude, so he settled for, "It's, uh, lovely weather outside, huh?"

Yep, smooth.

Grace's eyes narrowed. "It's been raining for three hours, genius."

Singh snorted. "I take it you're tired, Allen, if you didn't notice the downpour out there?"

Barry nodded sheepishly. "Yeah…"

"Told you to stop babying me," Grace muttered weakly, trying to twist off the bottle cap. "I'm fine."

"You passed out yesterday after you got a shower."

"… didn't pass out today though," she retorted, finally succeeding in removing the blasted cap.

Singh shook his head at the pair's banter and spoke up. "Well, I'm glad to see you're recovering, Grace. How do you feel?"

"Fine."

Fine? This kid just felt FINE?! Singh frowned. "Grace, really, you-"

"Trust me, sir," she cut him off quietly, "I've had worse."

That didn't quell the Captain's unsettled nerves on bit. He had to take some time to think as he watched Barry sit on the edge of the bed and smile at Grace, helping her hold the water bottle when her hands shook too much. He finally found something to say and stammered over himself as he couldn't help but be distracted by what in the world could've happened to this quiet teenager. "Grace, uh… i-if you ever need someone to talk to, me and Rob's door is always open."

No one noticed Barry's eyebrows rise slightly as he looked away, glancing quickly at Grace. He saw the gears turning in her mind and she just smiled slightly. "Thanks, sir. I… I appreciate the gesture."

Barry almost snickered, but quickly covered it with a cough. Singh looked up at him with some concern, which was new to his character, and suggested, "Allen, might want to get some rest and see a doctor about that cough."

"Yep," Grace nodded, Barry noticing she was biting back a laugh at his reaction. "Might wanna see a doctor. About that pesky cough. 'Cause it could be contagious-"

"Oh shut up."

* * *

_-so… short chapter. sorry about that :( i've been super busy, and i want the next chapter to have its own glory, mainly because it's going to be awesome! i couldn't quite tack those events onto this chapter; it just didn't feel right. so... two weeks from now i'll have a new chapter up!_

_sorry for any typos. trying to get back into the feel of writing because of going on vacation; school's kinda destroyed my brain... feels like i've mentioned that detail before._

_one more thing: i'll be posting a new story tomorrow! it's for Young Justice, and it's called __Turn Around__. i'm pretty excited to post it, but i'm really nervous, too. i hope it's good. (this is one of the reasons my updates will now be two weeks apart)_

_thanks so much to Lord Darth Yoda and XxNeonShadowsxX for the reviews! :) any criticism, comments, or ideas are totally welcome, so please leave a review- they help me get better at this whole writing thing. :)_

_be back soon! :)_


	9. And We Should've Known

_-this chapter was fun to write! (okay, i love history, so…) there's a lot of history stuff to come, which is super important for, well, the future of the story._

_so… here's the new chapter! :)_

* * *

There was only one thing worse than when Barry Allen got stuck in science mode.

It was when Grace got stuck in history mode.

Everyone was amazed that she could retain so much information, all those dates, locations, names, and keep it all straight. It gave Iris a headache half the time if Grace actually launched into some conversation and was able to recount events as if she had lived in that time frame.

Cisco found it amusing and quite awesome how she just came off easily with the facts, and was also glad her memory was in tact after the whole incident two weeks prior.

That's where they were now- S.T.A.R. Labs. Barry was running on the treadmill at four hundred miles per hour like that was perfectly normal, Caitlin had left the room to take a call from Ronnie (Grace still had some catching up to do on, um, his special talent of turning into a human fireball), and Dr. Wells and Cisco were watching the readouts on Barry's stats as Grace slowly sipped away a can of Sprite, sitting off to the side.

Still on the mend, Grace was just a slight ashen instead of full blown pale grey from the accident. Her scars were angry and marring, but on the mend; they'd never fully heal, though, the doctor said sadly.

Barry had promised after training they'd go get something to eat. That was huge for her, considering that in the last week and a half she'd only left the house with Barry to come here; she was finally deemed well enough to face the outside world again by Caitlin and Cisco.

"Okay, that's good." Barry slowed down at Cisco's call and he grinned as he stopped, saying something about Chinese take-out that didn't quite reach Grace's ears. He looked over at her and frowned.

Whenever Grace and Wells were in the same room, the girl's eyes just locked onto him whenever the scientist wasn't looking.

What was up with her?

"Grace?"

Grace looked up and stood, following Barry outside. He frowned. "You okay?"

"Yeah. Just a little… tired."

"Sure you're up to this?"

Grace snorted. "Please, we're getting food, not running at Mach 1… do you think I'll ever be able to run again?"

"Maybe," Barry said optimistically. "I think you just need time. Cisco thinks what happened to me before happened to you, except I didn't get transported…"

"Yeah, that was weird."

Barry wanted to ask so badly what was bothering Grace about Dr. Wells, but instead found himself wanting to get her mind off what she'd lost this round of the fight. "Um… so, you saw the Supreme Court on the news?" Oh great, he'd probably just talked his way into having his ear talked off.

And all over history...

"Yep. New case… didn't see what though," she said quietly, blushing. "I fell asleep."

Barry laughed. "It's on-"

"Police searches? Equality clauses? Drugs? Search and seizure? Privacy?"

"Think you covered them all, but no." He couldn't believe that Grace could talk; apparently she was incredibly timid until anyone got to know her and she figured them out as well. "Wait, it might be the second one… I forgot myself, actually. Was hoping you knew."

"Nope. Nothing up there… except wanting food. I'm hungry."

That was one thing that hadn't really changed. Grace was still hungry, and was eating about half what Barry did now. Caitlin said that meant some of her powers were still unconsciously functioning inside her; Grace's hormones had been affected, and the lone result of that wasn't anything negative, so they were sure her powers were just maybe in a state of rest or recharge, trying to recover from the shock.

"We're getting there," Barry commented. "How much do you know about the Supreme Court?"

"Depends… Name a case."

"What?"

"That's a word, not a Supreme Court case."

Barry had to think; this really wasn't his mojo… "Um… All I got is Roe v. Wade."

"Hate that case," Grace spat quietly. "C'mon, you gotta know at least one."

"Brown v. the Board of Education?"

Grace deadpanned. "Civil rights and equality in schools? Easy. Think!"

"I really don't know any-"

"Fine." Grace smirked. "Rochin v. California: The police aren't allowed to use means or tactics in search or arrest that 'shock the conscience'."

"Huh?"

"That one's not as well known, I guess."

Barry was too confused to stop himself from asking, "What was it?"

"50's case. The cops got word that a guy -said guy being Rochin- had drugs at his house Why? I don't remember. So the cops go to the dude's house without a warrant, go to Rochin and his wife's room, and upon asking what a pill was on a desk, Rochin swallowed it to get rid of evidence."

"Why'd it become a Supreme Court case?" Barry then asked, knowing full well the search was invalid without a warrant.

"The cops beat Rochin to try to make him throw up, and then took him to the hospital to have his stomach pumped. The guy sued after California law said he was guilty of possession, saying the cops were in the wrong."

"Well they were! And besides, couldn't they have just arrested him and observed him to see if the drug made him-" Barry twirled a finger by his ear, "all crazy?"

Grace nodded. "You'd think so. Supreme court ruled in Rochin's favor, saying the cops were just too extreme. It-"

Barry's phone went off. "Yeah?" he answered, turning to Grace and mouthing "it's Cisco".

"Okay… I got it… thanks." He sighed and hung up. "Fire on Main Street…"

Grace just shrugged. "Go. I'll be fine. I know where I'm going."

"I'm sorry, Grace-"

"It's not your fault. Now go!" She smiled as he zoomed off, stopping to change into his scarlet suit. Grace just stuffed her hands in her pockets and kept walking. "They say history repeats itself…" Glanced back at Barry. "Maybe it will again."

* * *

Grace met up with Barry just before she stepped into the actual bounds of the city. Her face wrinkled immediately. "Dude, you smell like a high school bonfire!"

Barry rolled his eyes. "Oh c'mon. It's not that-" he smelled his shirt and coughed, the stench of smoke catching in his throat. "Okay, it is pretty bad."

"Told ya."

"Shut up," Barry shot back jokingly. "Okay, give me a second-" he dashed off and returned, hair just slightly wet, new clothes, and minus the ashy smudge on his cheek. "I'm back."

"That was five seconds," Grace pointed out, her nose rejoicing that the smell of pummeling grey smoke was gone.

"And I repeat…. shut up."

Both laughed as they headed further into the city, Barry constantly watching Grace for any sign of fatigue; he had a feeling he'd be racing her home later, as she was probably masking her slowly mounting exhaustion. Maybe if he got her talking again… and got her to sit down. Thankfully he located a bench outside a closet-sized Hallmark and got her to sit down. She looked a little more relaxed when she was sitting down.

After a few seconds of silence, Barry just decided to watch Grace. She looked around tiredly, like she was already starting to get worn out from the walk… totally planning on forcing her to sleep in tomorrow. "Are you alright?"

Grace nodded. "Yeah… just thinking."

"About?"

"I don't know… well, I do, but…" she stopped, biting her lip. "Do you think history really repeats itself?"

"Um…" Barry wasn't sure. "I guess so. What about you? What do you think?"

Grace stared at the ground, her hands clasped in her lap, one thumb rubbing over the opposite hand, part of a nervous habit. "I think it does. The fall of empires over time, different wars, different mistakes… I just wonder if it will… "

"What is it exactly that you're wondering if it'll repeat?"

"…how you got shocked and your powers came back." Grace still didn't look up, like she was ashamed to admit it.

Barry gently grasped her still thin shoulder. "Grace, you aren't the only one hoping for it. Cisco and Caitlin are too... and so is Dr. Wells."

Barry watched her face carefully, but there was no reaction whatsoever to Wells' name. "What about Joe?" she asked.

"I think he'd prefer that neither of us could run at the speed of sound."

"You can. I run about as fast as an Ewok."

Barry chuckled, earning a small laugh from his ward. "You really know a lot about history, huh? How 'bout mythology?"

That wasn't his strong point at all, but Barry figured he knew a little more about that than wars and fallen empires.

"Dabbled in it. Interesting, but not my favorite thing."

"Really?" Barry looked up at her and noticed a man in a suit breeze past, slowing slightly as he passed them, like he was listening. Oh well. Some people were just nosy.

Grace shrugged. "I kinda like the Revolution era. Founding fathers, American Revolution, that kinda thing."

Barry glanced up once more as a shadow fell over them briefly; it was the eavesdropping suit again…

what was going on?

"So…" he said a little louder, noticing Grace's eyes narrow as he looked at her pointedly, "you like history?"

"Yeah…" she trailed off, wondering what was up with Barry. She'd heard he could be a tad strange at times (from Joe and Iris), but…

Barry smiled, entirely forced; he could see the man freeze like Captain Cold's ice gun hit him full force, then turn on his black leather heel, and slowly advance back to their bench. "And you like the American Revolution?"

"Yes, Barry Allen," Grace matched his volume. "Did you just blank out on the last five minutes?" She looked so bewildered.

He just eyed the man as he was two steps away. "Well, weirder things have happened to me, so… who are you?"

The man had stopped and Barry slowly moved so his arm was around the back of the bench, against Grace's shoulders. He now noticed the man's chiseled face, cut and dry tan, a few wrinkles that came from either stress or intense squinting, calculating light brown eyes, and just a hint of shadow on his chin and above his lip. His blond hair was slicked back, streaked with white and grey. "Excuse me, but I couldn't help but overhear… you like history?"

Grace nodded slowly. "Yeah, I do… and why do you look familiar?"

"I'm Rhett Scott-"

"You're the guy behind all those new historic documentaries, aren't you?" she asked, her eyes slightly wide.

Barry just watched dumbly as the man grinned. "You've heard of me, I see."

"Yeah. Your documentaries are awesome!"

"Well thank you, young lady." This guy's voice was sooth and a touch regal, like he was wealthy; considering the pristine suit, Barry could assume easily he was. He looked at Barry and smiled. "I'm not that well known, Mr…" he extended his hand and Barry shook it, filling in with his name.

"Well, Mr. Allen, as I said, I'm not well known, mainly because I study the subject matter for years at a time. Hence the reason why I've only created three historic series. Now, my dear, you are…?"

"Grace Darrow." They shook hands and Rhett's eyes turned to slits briefly at the bony feel of Grace's hand. "Firm grip there," he commented. "Now… are you two…?"

Grace caught on. "Um, he's my-"

"Legal guardian," Barry finished, nodding.

Rhett looked between them. "Due to relation? A family member pass?"

"Not quite," Grace said simply, giving him a look that said not to go one step further in that area of questioning.

The gentleman just nodded once. "Well, forgive me for listening in, but you seem to have an excellent grasp of history. Do you?'

Barry snorted. "That would be the understatement of the year."

Grace blushed at the compliment and the man just grinned more. "Well here's why I'm asking. I have another documentary to shoot, and I have deadlines coming up quickly. If you'd like a job, I'd gladly hire you as one of my research assistants."

"R-really?" Grace's eyes flashed brightly and Rhett's grin only grew. "Are you sure?"

"Absolutely. Wait," he frowned briefly. "Are you still in school?'

"No. She graduated early. Special advancement program," Barry chimed, beaming, even though it was fabricated.

"I see. Well, there is one thing… the filming is to take place overseas in two weeks. My team and I are currently working in the city, finishing up the research. We'll be heading for Europe for a month or so, then back to the states to finish shooting. This is why I asked about school The subject matter revolves around the Revolution. I know many documentaries exist, but this one is going to be far different."

Grace nodded in understanding. "Barry-"

"No, don't decide now," the man insisted. "Here… is my number," he fished a card from his pocket. "Call me by the end of the week with your answer. I'm always available, thanks to the wonders of strong coffee."

Both nodded, Grace sending him a quiet "thank you" and "good night, sir" before he swept off into the crowd.

Barry looked at the card. He had no doubt this man was the real deal. But if he was trusting this man to watch over Grace in another country (thank the good Lord for a forged passport, courtesy of Cisco and a touch of help from Felicity after a phone call), he was definitely doing some intense research on him.

Grace looked at him and quickly said, "If you think this is a bad idea, I won't do it."

"No, it's not that… I," Barry waited a second, trying to find the right words. "I just don't want you to be in any more danger. And you're just getting over these injuries! Grace… I don't want you to get hurt."

"I know. I'll only say yes if you think it's a good idea," she promised softly, Barry seeing the hopeful gleam in her eyes that betrayed her words. "Now…" her stomach grumbled and her blush grew. "I believe we were getting food?"

* * *

Barry sat up late in his lab.

He'd raced to his lab, pulling out all the stops as he found anything and everything on historian Rhett Scott.

And from what he saw, the dude wasn't half bad.

So…

If Grace wanted to do this, he didn't mind. She was old enough to handle herself, but… with losing her powers-

Barry grabbed his phone and called Cisco hurriedly. "Cisco?"

"Dude?" Cisco slurred, half awake. "It's one in the morning'. What do ya want?" he yawned.

"I need your help."

"At one in the stinkin' morning?"

"Yes."

"…fine. Whadaya need?"

* * *

Grace woke up the next morning-

and everything was blurry.

Well, before everything was blurred. She'd just never mentioned it… even though she needed glasses.

Badly.

Stumbling out of bed, and for once not from fatigue, Grace got dressed and ready for the day, nearly running into Joe.

"Whoa!" He grabbed her shoulders as she nearly faceplanted into his chest. "Grace, are you okay?"

"Y-yeah," she stammered, pulling away from his touch. "Just… a little tired."

Joe frowned as he saw her eyes struggle to look straight; it was like she couldn't focus…

maybe she couldn't.

"Grace- hold on a second." He backed up five steps and held up a hand. "How many fingers am I holding up?"

Grace squinted. It looked like four? "Four?" she guessed.

Joe shook his head, looking at the two fingers he held up. "Grace, can you see me clearly?"

Grace squinted again before her shoulders slumped and she looked down, a quiet, "No," being Joe's answer.

Joe sighed. "How long has your vision been like this?"

"Since… before the accident. But-" she was quick to explain "-it just got a lot worse only this morning. It's never been this bad."

Joe just walked over to her and helped her find her way down the stairs, guiding her to the couch. "Why didn't you say something?"

"It wasn't that bad! Honest! I could see decently before, just… stuff was a little fuzzy the farther away it was." She refused to look up, looking like she was a little child in trouble.

Joe wasn't mad; he was just concerned. And he felt bad. "I'm not mad at you. Just… why didn't you say anything?"

"Glasses cost a lot…"

Seriously? Sometimes this kid… ah, never mind. "Grace, being able to see is important, especially if your powers do happen to come back. You have to tell Caitlin and Cisco, and the sooner the better if you take Scott, or Rhett… or whatever his stinkin' name is up on his job offer."

Grace nodded. "I will."

But there was something else. "Um… Joe?"

"Yes?"

She didn't speak at first, but finally asked in a cold but reserved tone, "What do you know about Dr. Wells?"

* * *

"Bank robbery on Main street, mugging on Fifth, drug bust on the north side, and… apparently he helped a little old lady cross the street."

Eddie looked up at the report Joe had on the Flash racing about Central City; this was just today's activities, and it was only two in the afternoon. "Wow, dude's sure busy… wait, little old lady?"

"Oh, by helping her cross the street I mean he saved her from getting hit by a tractor trailer after she tripped. He even grabbed her walker."

Eddie shook his head, looking over the reports for himself. "How does he do this? I mean, this guy's gotta have a job. Unless he sits at home or is filthy rich-"

"With how much he eats? You'd have to be Bill Gates," Joe muttered.

Eddie looked up. "You say something?"

"Huh? No. Nothing. Nothing at-"

"West! Thawne! High speed chase down near S.T.A.R. Labs! Our units need back-up!"

Both rushed to their car and raced there, a red streak flying past.

Eddie sighed. "And the calvary arrives." Man, didn't this guy ever stop?

Joe just gripped the wheel a little tighter in response, hoping and praying Barry didn't get hurt.

No sooner did he do so than one of the four police cars closing in on a flaming red Camaro flip over, tumbling to the side of the road. Both men could see the Flash race to the car, throw open the doors, and grab the two cops inside, getting them to safety before the car tumbled over and over and into a deep, rocky ravine.

Joe couldn't help but freeze for a second as Barry zoomed to the perp's car and was instantly inside. He jerked the wheel and the car followed suit of the cop car from just seconds ago. The car flipped, but instead twisted and skid, blocking Joe's way.

And Joe didn't hit the brakes.

Eddie screamed. "Joe! STOP!"

Joe jumped back to the moment and buried his foot in the left pedal, both his and his partner's faces etched with sheer terror as the car fought to stop-

and suddenly they were both sitting on the grass by the road, just as their car collided with the battered and busted Camaro.

The other cops stopped, one heading for the flipped getaway car. Several helped West and Thawne to their feet, the Flash long gone.

Joe shook his head, looking at the car in shock.

He froze.

Joe West froze.

He shook his head, the question of whether or not superpowers were actually more help than harm even farther from unanswered than ever before.

* * *

_-if you live in the U.S., happy 4th of July! if not, then have a happy 4th of July too! ;)  
_

_sorry for any typos :( the next chapter will take place a day before "Out of Time", just to put things in perspective._

_i'm still taking any suggestions for a hero name for Grace! if you have an idea, please let me know :)_

_and, if you guys have any ideas for what direction you'd like this story to go, i'd love to hear them. or if you have any criticism, i'll take that too._

_big thanks to Elhini Prime for reviewing! :)_


	10. That we'd Grow Up

_-in case the timeline is a little confusing, here's a breakdown of what's happened so far._

_Timeline:_

_-The story starts just after the episode "Fallout"_

_-Everything up until Chapter 9 falls between "Fallout" and "Out of Time"; Chapter 9 is set right before "Out of Time", and this chapter starts off a day before it._

_-The next chapter will fall after "Rogue Time"_

_(this is kinda for myself as well, considering i haven't had much time to write and had to sort out where i was.)_

* * *

Everyone was meeting at the West house early that morning.

Caitlin stopped by to pick up Cisco. Iris and Eddie headed over together, which was to be expected, considering they did live together (Joe didn't hesitate to call it "shacking up" behind the strong and sound walls of his home). Dr. Wells said he had had a rough night and wasn't showing up.

Barry headed downstairs and looked around shocked. "What's up?"

"We wanted to see Grace off," Iris said, smiling. "And, since it's Sunday, none of us have work. So…"

"Here we are," Eddie finished.

Joe appeared from out of the kitchen. "Yeah, and they brought enough food for a year."

"Or for you in a week," Cisco mumbled, getting playfully elbowed by Caitlin.

Barry heard, though, and fought not to snicker at that. Glancing into the kitchen, he saw endless bowls and bags of food; he was sure Cisco was the one who sported his stellar cooking skills by bringing the soda lining the counters. "Wow, guys… thanks." He was glad they'd all showed up for Grace. "What time is it?"

"Ten twenty," Joe read off his watch, opening a soda. "Grace won't be down for another ten minutes," he said quietly.

"What's she doing?" Caitlin asked.

"Every Sunday she's up for two hours reading and listening to something on her computer-"

"Devotions."

Barry turned as Joe appeared behind him with a full cup of Coke. "What?"

"She's doing her devotions," Joe repeated, breaking into explanation. "What, you thought she carries that Bible for show? Since she can't go back to her old church, she's involved in one that uses internet outreach, or whatever she called it. The sermon's on from ten to ten thirty every Sunday."

"But two hours early?"

Joe shrugged. "Usually praying or something like that. She's up every morning like this."

"But we leave here at six thirty…" Barry wondered how anyone could drag themselves awake at the unholy hour of five in the morning.

"Yep." Joe just took another sip of his drink. "She was up late packing for this."

"Why did Mr. Scott move up the travel date?" Caitlin asked as they all sat down in the living room.

"Research got done early, and they're heading out soon. She's on a team that comes back two weeks from now; the teams switch out halfway through the month."

Cisco looked around, kind of sad his sci-fi buddy was going to disappear. Even if it wasn't forever, like half the metahumans they'd run into… "She's leaving today?"

"Actually, she leaves in four days," Barry explained. "Rhett wanted her to stay with his team a few days beforehand. She said she'll stop by before she heads out."

Cisco sighed. "I'm gonna miss her."

Everyone knew those two had a bond; it seemed Grace had that effect on everyone in the room.

And now she was heading out… alone.

Joe sighed too. "She's been on her own for a year, and she'll be eighteen soon. Grace is more than capable of handling herself overseas…."

All eyes locked onto Joe's face and he shook his head. "Yeah, that didn't sound convincing to me either."

Iris couldn't believe how much she was going to miss the girl. It was unbelievable to what extent their lives had changed in the last month or so.

And all it took was a homeless kid...

Iris still wondered why Grace's records had to be... altered, for lack of a better word that didn't sound so illegal. What in the world could've possibly been so important to... to what? Cover up? Bury? Hide? There was no possible way someone as sweet as Grace had broken the law.

Well, there was that overwhelming ideal that the criminal was usually someone who no one expected, so...

"Hey Barry, I-"

Everyone smiled up at Grace as she appeared on the stairs, looking shocked. True to Joe's word, Grace was awake, dressed in loose jeans and a light grey sweater (Barry was rubbing off on the kid style-wise, and Iris briefly wondered if she'd have to have an intervention because of excessive wearing of sweater vests in the near future). Her hair was tied back in a ponytail, a few strands falling in her face. "What's goin' on?"

Someone explained why they were there, but soon enough Grace forgot who as she was ushered into the kitchen with all the food. She smiled the whole time, and everyone was glad of that; she'd opened up so much.

The whole get-together lasted four hours, with lots of laughing, eating, and reminiscing, the last one especially applying to Grace. She hadn't felt this good in years.

But one thing was putting a slight damper on her celebratory mood.

And it certainly wasn't the fact that she'd found a camera in her room with a chip inside that was decorated with a red lightning bolt.

* * *

Barry's focus was on opening the door. Just open the door… forget that someone knows who the Flash really is because Cisco didn't want to lose his brother… Barry didn't blame Cisco; he blamed himself. The whole thing… (was overwhelmingly better than the tsunami alternative).

He bit his lip as he stepped into Jitter's, feeling weighed down. Maybe after a good night's sleep he'd feel fine. Maybe he'd be fine-

Eddie.

Oh good God, there was Eddie. And Iris.

The rest of the room was a blur as Eddie stood up, and in Barry's guilt and worn out haze that almost caused him to stumble, all he could see was a look of pure evil on what he thought was his friend's face as he approached, his eyes burning. "I ca-" Barry's explanation was cut off by Eddie hugging him.

No punching.

No cursing him out, which at this point wouldn't have surprised Barry one bit. A… hug?

The hug was quickly over and now Barry could see Eddie wasn't mad; he was concerned. "I'm so sorry, pal. It's not like me to hit anyone. I don't know what came over me."

Barry was dumbstruck. Eddie was kidding, right? "Uh, thanks, Eddie," Barry stammered as Iris and Caitlin (where'd she come from?) walked over. "It-It's okay."

"You poor thing," Iris crooned sadly, rubbing his arm. "I had no idea."

Poor thing?

Okay, now he was beyond confused. "Is that right? Um, w-what exactly did you have no idea about?"

Before Iris could explain, Caitlin jumped in. "I was just explaining to Iris and Eddie about your lightning psychosis."

Um… what? "My what now?" Barry asked, hoping Caitlin was going to fill him in and quickly; he really didn't need this day getting any worse.

"Your lightning psychosis," Caitlin said with a baited but gentle tone, and Barry relaxed slightly as she explained, "how your recent odd behavior is a side effect of being struck by lightning?"

Barry sighed in relief, but to the others it looked like a great burden had been lifted from him. He smiled slightly. Was this completely outrageous? Yes. But did Eddie and Iris buy it? Thankfully, yes.

Caitlin continued with the other symptoms. "… mood swings, sudden outbursts of affection, and," her look was between a smirk and the look Joe got when he got too close to blowing his superhuman alter ego secret clear out of the water, "other lapses in judgement."

"He had done all of those things! He told me that he had ESP." Iris and Eddie's pity (or whatever it was at this point- Barry was too tired to figure it out) was a little overwhelming, but Barry just smiled at the thought that there was actually a cover story for his constant disappearances and odd behavior.

And… Iris wouldn't be looking at him like he was a total pervert trying to hit on her. And Eddie, good Lord willing, wouldn't be arranging another meeting between his fist and Barry's jaw.

After the whole awkward (and somehow, miraculously believable) meeting, Barry was sitting alone, Caitlin heading out to see Ronnie, when someone grabbed his shoulders and said softly,

"Wow."

He jumped and turned around, just barely reacting in time to miss sending his cup of steaming coffee flying.

Grace grinned at him, her hair up in a messy bun. "Sorry. Guess being jumpy is another part of having 'lightning psychosis'."

"If I have it, you have it too."

"Okay. But mine doesn't affect my mind. Only my hair."

Barry laughed at Grace as she sat down; her rebellious red mop definitely looked like it was abnormally affected by something. "You want anything?"

"No. I'm good. Just... just saying a quick good-bye. We're outta here tomorrow, and... then it's just calling, texting, and e-mail."

Barry grabbed her hand and grinned. "I'll miss you."

"I'll miss you too... thanks again, Barry. Really..." Grace's eyes glistened. "I... I can't ever pay you or Joe, or any of you back-"

"You don't have to." Barry looked at the girl he'd come to know as a friend, no... more like a sister. "Can't wait for you to get back."

Grace shrugged. "I always wanted to get a job where something I loved was the center of it. Now I have it. It's kinda surreal. I-I never thought I would be able to get my life out of the gutter after that whole thing went down with the particle accelerator. Really... thank you."

"I'd do anything for you, Grace."

"Us too."

Both looked up at the two eavesdroppers, Eddie and Iris, who it turned out were still lingering in the restaurant. "Good luck, Grace," Eddie patted her shoulder.

"Thanks." She stood and headed for the door, waving once and grinning as she slipped out the door.

Barry sighed and looked at the other two sheepishly. "Is it bad that I'm worrying? Like seriously, every worst case scenario is replaying in my head."

Iris smirked. "Mother hen."

"Shut up!"

* * *

_-next time: more action! yay! :) (oh great... i suck at writing fights...)_

_sorry for any typos :(_

_please let me know what you guys think! i'll take whatever you've got- criticism, complaints, ideas- anything! :)_


	11. Sooner

Grace was thrilled.

It had been a whole week since nervously stepping onto the plane, Mr. Scott's hand gently landing on her shoulder in understanding and support. In one week, he had grown quite fond of the youngest member of his team, who worked nonstop, checking and double-checking her work, as well as the others, and racing about when they carted their gear around to help set up the next shot.

He could see how happy she was; he wasn't quite sure why though. It was like this hectic change of pace had done her a world of good.

And though the man could't even begin to put his finger on how, it was nice.

But unfortunately all good things must come to an end.

Or in this case, crash and burn.

* * *

"What's going on?"

The team was riding in their rented bus through some narrow Paris street, heading out early to stake out a scene to be shot well past the darkening of the sky. Everyone looked up from their notes, coffee (or in three cases, early doses of alcohol) to Grace as she stared out her window on the left side.

Rhett knew Grace to be quite quiet, so her just slicing through well-oiled work was a new occurrence. "What's going on where?"

"Over there."

Rhett took one glance out the window and his jaw dropped. He struggled to form any sort of sentence as the shock rolled over him and he finally loosened his jaw and tongue to stammer, "S-stop the bus!"

Everyone raced to Grace's side of the bus, horrified by the sight and wondering. Wondering what in the world had caused this. Wondering how she'd been able to delver the news of misfortune so easily and… calmly.

The entire city line behind two rows of clattering rooftops and chipping old houses was engulfed in smoke.

And one single line raced into the sky, a mass of churning flame.

Screams could now be heard outside the bus, people racing from their homes in any direction that their panic seemed to pull them. Another building erupted in flames, followed by another.

Grace stood up, unnoticed by everyone's shock, and pulled out her phone. Barry could get here-

but could he really run the length of the Atlantic?

She really didn't want to test that theory now.

Rushing from the bus (which was easy, considering the driver was distracted) Grace's inner horror levels skyrocketed as another building ignited, turning into a torch. She could sea a spray of water and the fire was transitioning to smoke and fading.

What….

what was causing this?!

Under a blue sweater that was a tad too big, Grace's hands clenched and a single tear fell. People were screaming for help, shouting for help.

And there was nothing she could do.

Her theory of history repeating itself had long since blown out the window and Grace was certain now that her powers, the only constant in her life in the last year, the only thing that could help save those people now, were long gone.

But a single, chafed and crumbling thread of hope remained, dyed a cool blue in hopes that one day she could run again.

And if it had to be any day to regain that much needed momentum, today was beyond a shadow of a doubt that day.

The teenager's eyes screwed closed as she fell to her knees, sobbing. There was nothing, absolutely NOTHING, she could do.

Barry couldn't get here.

She couldn't run.

And the smoke was choking her as well, now spreading three times as fast over the city.

"Please…" she whispered, begging around the heavy smog. "Please, Lord… even just for two minutes, please…"

The buildings were skyscrapers.

So many would die.

So many probably had already.

Grace's eyes opened, stinging with pain. Her hold on the grubby sidewalk was shaky, so she looked at her hand to steady it, hoping to calm down-

and gasped in awe.

Her hand wasn't shaking.

It was a blur.

A blue and flesh-toned blur.

Grace looked at her other hand and saw the same thing, lifting her hands from the ground only to find her arms follow suit.

She was vibrating.

She was vibrating!

More tears came, these ones filled with relief and sheer euphoria, and a quiet, "Thank you!" fell from Grace's lips before her eyes flashed a brilliant blue, the electricity flooding her irises, and she sped off, flying through the unfamiliar street corners with a surprising ease.

She could run again…

and just in time.

She skidded to a stop in an alley just short of the buildings.

Or… building.

The three towers were connected by several walkways, each suspended above the ground, one already gone, eaten away by the starving flames.

Grace looked around. Windows were smashed out on all three, the middle building being thirty floors high and the other two being half that. What in the world kind of structure was this?

A creak of metal echoed and more shrieks of terror followed as a logo snapped from the building, falling to the ground in a heap.

Spencer Technology Studies.

A science place…

"Why do you guys always make things blow up?" Grace asked herself, rushing forward with a half thrown together plan in mind.

First, grab any people she could.

Second, locate whatever was causing the inferno.

Third, um...

well, she had two steps down.

The fiery haired girl raced into the first building, zipping out seven times with either semiconscious or unconscious employees in soiled lab coats.

The second building only had three people, all awake but overcome from the lung-burning smoke.

Grace dumped them outside as well, knowing time was more important to follow than making sure each victim of the flames was perfectly treated. She still had one more building to go when she turned for its doorway, hearing a resounding "click".

Camera…

she'd only stopped long enough to drop the people, not long enough to be visible.

But still…

okay, so now she had a step three.

Find that camera and delete the picture!

Hoping and praying that this building had been successfully evacuated, Grace rushed inside, her lungs burning and heaving with every soot-filled breath, her face red as her hair and feeling like it was melting faster than hot summer ice cream.

But that was too much to hope for.

Of course, this building had to have a daycare for employees' children on the tenth floor.

Great planning…

And it was clear, once she located the room without a single other person to be seen, that at least ten trips had to be made.

There were twenty four kids.

"How in the world-" Grace's usually dormant anger flared as one little child - the majority of them were terrified toddlers, none over five or six- spoke up.

"Miss Maggie! Did you come back for us?"

Not seeing an adult anywhere, Grace raced through the last five floors before returning two seconds later. Not adults in sight.

The kids had been abandoned.

And she had to get them out. NOW!

Unless she was super quick about this…

The fire had leeched onto the room's brightly painted walls, children huddled under tables in the middle, one little girl obviously injured as she sniffled and cradled her right arm. All the children screamed as the fire claimed the ceiling as its own.

She had seconds.

And she wasn't that fast.

Grace didn't hesitate any longer, grabbing three children at random and racing them to the ground, quickly setting them on the sidewalk before zooming back, this time with four, one at each hip, one on her back, and one who she'd hurriedly wrapped around her chest, their tears running down her neck.

Seven down.

Seventeen to go.

As she arrived at the engulfed room a fifth time, the ceiling moaned, complaining that it would soon fall from the fire's torture.

There was an office a few doors down that was untouched. If she could just get the kids there instead…

that would have to do.

Grace grabbed three.

Then two.

Then three.

Then two.

Then four again.

And two again.

And then lastly, the tiny injured girl who she got out just in time as the ceiling plummeted into the floor, sending both crashing through floor after floor.

Grace stopped in the room and glanced at the children, one little boy tilting his head at her and saying, "You're all black."

They could see her.

Grace glanced at a mirror dangling from an open closet in the corner, toiletries spilled out over the floor. The cracked mirror revealed that she looked like a well roasted marshmallow, doused in soot.

The only thing its natural color were her eyes, blazing with a hot neon blue fire of their own.

Her identity was safe.

But she still needed to find that camera!

She looked at the kids and after a deep breath that tasted like licking the inside of a chimney, Grace grabbed more children, this time the injured child first, going a little slower than with her other trips. The child was planted on an unoccupied stretcher, two EMTs turning in shock and immediately beginning to work on the child.

Four trips later and only three kids were left.

Grace felt exhausted; she might have her speed, but not the energy to keep this up. She didn't know how fast she was going; she was just thankful to be fast enough to beat the flames. She scooped up the last three kids as the fire started to eat away at this room now, and she bolted, depositing them on the sidewalk opposite the buildings just in time to hear someone say, "An experiment went wrong in the main lab. Blew up the entire floor. The two scientists involved are gone."

"But an entire floor?"

"They knew it was volatile, and had it evacuated to contain any mishaps. But this…"

Grace sagged in relief behind a dumpster. So it was accidental.

Good.

Well, bad in the fact that this whole thing happened. And even worse that two people died because of it.

At least two…

She knew she had to get back to the bus, but…

she couldn't like this!

She'd be a dead give away if she returned, soiled and scorched.

So, with the remaining strength she had, Grace whipped through the streets again, finding a lake in a park that was basically empty, considering how early in the day it was, and she dashed into it.

It was freezing! The water cut right to her bones, the little weight she'd gained not helping any. But it washed the fire's filth away, so it worked.

Grace dashed around the block a few times, quickly drying her clothes and hair. She looked back to normal, save for her hair being a wreck. She quickly fixed it and dashed onto the bus, no one noticing her disappearance.

She grinned, exhausted to the bone, but estatic.

Her powers were back!

Only...

crap.

She'd forgotten about the camera.

She relaxed and forgot about it entirely. After all, the most the shot would've shown was an ash-coated blur.

Everything was going great.

* * *

Two bank robberies stopped.

One mugger in custody.

And one little old lady had safely crossed the street.

Barry stuffed his reward of six cheeseburgers into his mouth in record time, pouring over evidence from a new case. He was half asleep, having had his mother's murder replay over and over in his sleep all night. He didn't even want to dare to close his eyes now, for fear of seeing it all again.

Something felt… balanced though. In the midst of his exhaustion, something somewhere was going right.

Barry didn't know what exactly, but it felt like something in his life had worked out as an opposite reaction to his nightmares.

Everything was somehow balanced out.

He just didn't know how as his head slumped onto his desk for a five minute nap.

* * *

_-annnd... her powers are back! this is gonna be fun! :)_

_sorry for any typos :( i posted a new story; just check in my profile._

_have a great weekend, everybody! :)_


	12. Or Later

_-i'm sorry this is late, and i'm sorry it's so short :(_

_i just got back from vacation, and then my cousins' house, and i'm completely exhausted; i'm sorry, but i just haven't been able to write much for this story. i'm not going to abandon it- i promise! i... just need more motivation i guess. idk :(_

_thanks for the reviews and support :) i really can't say enough how much they mean to me._

_anyways... here's the new chapter._

* * *

Grace was glad to be home.

It had been an awesome break from the last year to go overseas and do something relatively normal. Of course, regaining her powers during the break wasn't an expected event, but it was definitely a relief.

And a bit of a burden.

Barry and Grace had spoken over the phone, but never of anything speedster-related. She knew she had some serious catching up to do, and so she knew right away where she was heading after stopping at home.

The team's rental bus dropped her off at the West house and she waved to the team, all of them smiling and waving in return, Rhett promising before she stepped off the bus that he'd be calling her again with another project soon; she now had a regular job.

Things were looking good.

Grace walked up to the door and set her two bags on the porch, knocking twice and hearing the boisterous echo of the television in the background. Definitely sports related. She knocked again and heard Joe's call of, "Hold on!" followed by a mutter of, "this better be good. Game just started-"

He opened the door and was greeted by a grinning Grace, her arms crossed. "How's the game?"

"Grace!" Barry and Cisco, who were also watching the game, jumped from the couch and joined Joe in the group hug surrounding Grace. She giggled as they let go and decided to ask.

"What'd I miss?"

Barry sighed. "Well-"

"Barry's dad got kidnapped, two psycho lunatics, killer robot bees, nightmares-" Cisco waved his hands and cut himself off. "Let's just say you missed a LOT."

Joe and Barry nodded in sync. Joe had told Barry Grace had suspicions about Wells, too. Grace looked at all three men and shrugged. "Well, I'll just unpack and come watch the game, and then you can fill me in on… whatever Cisco said, 'cause I didn't catch the half of it."

As she moved one of her bags inside, a copy of season seven of _Star Trek: Voyager_ clattered to the floor, the pink case opening to disc three. Cisco's brown eyes sparkled in excitement. "Oh man, this is their second best season!"

"Second best?" Grace shook her head and grabbed it back. "No way. This one was the best."

"No, the fourth was the best- it had all the Borg tech-"

"So does this season…"

Barry and Joe just looked at each other for a second after Cisco and Grace disappeared upstairs before bursting out laughing. Things were returning to normal.

Well, if you could call anything about their daily lives normal.

* * *

_-again, sorry it's so short. and sorry for any typos; i feel horrible right now. :(_


	13. The Feeling

_-I'M ALIVE! and so, so, so sorry for the wait! writer's block is a pain, and i'm sorry for not posting the pictures of Grace… i won't be posting any more pictures as cover pages (unless it IS the cover), mainly because i'm so busy i can't. i feel bad for not showing it to you all, but Grace isn't that hard to imagine… right? :'( i'm sorry._

_and there will only be two more chapters. don't worry, i picked a hero name and it WILL be used! i promise!_

_i hope the end doesn't disappoint, and i hope you all like the long-awaited end!_

_read on!_

* * *

"That… shouldn't be there."

Cisco tried to keep the fear out of his voice, but Caitlin and Barry didn't need to hear it in his tone.

They could feel it.

Fear was rolling off Cisco in crashing waves, along with the overwhelming fact that the bags under his eyes were only growing from a lack of one on one time with face-planting into his pillow at night.

But despite what they felt, they had to investigate why a random room existed in S.T.A.R. Labs. Whatever secrets it held, no matter how gory or horrifying…

they had to know.

As they made their way down the hall, Cisco scanning for the dead giveaway of tachyons, Barry was glad Grace wasn't here. She was working on something else with her historian employer, discussing one of the edits for the documentary from the safety of her room at home.

"There." Barry snapped back to the present as Cisco pointed.

They found the room.

Now… how did they find it?

Cold.

The walls felt freezing to the touch, unbelievably cold and soulless, like it wanted to drain the life from Barry's fingers as the door pixelated open-

the suit.

Barry's green eyes widened, filled with anger, grief, pain...

anything and everything.

This man in this suit...

he'd ruined his life. He'd ruined his friends' lives. He'd trashed anything and everything that stood in his way.

But why? What could he possibly want?

Everyone turned towards the article floating near the wall, streams of Braille lining the walls.

Cisco opened his mouth to speak, the first to find his shocked voice. "What the -"

"I wouldn't finish that statement if I were you, Cisco."

All three jumped, startled. Relief filled them as Barry, Caitlin and Cisco discovered it was Grace, standing in the door nonchalantly, her arms crossed over a dark leather jacket, her expression vague. But Barry noticed she looked a little too calm. "Did you know?" he demanded half-heartedly, too tired to snap.

Grace nodded sadly. "I... suspected."

Cisco couldn't believe this. Neither could Caitlin.

But Barry did.

Grace shrugged, like she was finally letting go of some heavy burden. "Wells slipped. He let down his guard. That's how I know."

* * *

Even after questioning Gideon, escaping the room, and now…

now that Eddie was gone…

Barry just couldn't believe what all had gone down.

As everyone fled to try and stop the destabilizing wormhole, Grace slowly stumbled over to Eddie's body, the tears just falling silently.

This wasn't supposed to happen…

it couldn't!

No one knew about her super speed's return. She hid it well, just feeling deep down no one was supposed to know.

The fatal wound was done bleeding; Eddie was gone, and starting to feel like ice under her hands.

Wait…

Eobard had to have used something to take over Wells' appearance so perfectly. Like a… well, a gizmo from the future.

But what?

In a blur of blue, Grace raced to the secret room and immediately was greeted by Gideon. "Hello, Grace Darrow."

"Gideon," no time for formalities was taken, "what did Thawne use to change into Wells?"

"I don't understand the question."

Great. Grace figured Gideon was programmed to only think Wells was strictly Wells, or something like that. She had no time to think, only to act. "Is there a device that is capable of letting someone take on another's traits? Appearance, DNA, voice-"

A panel of the wall clicked open and revealed something…

Grace just grabbed it and ran, discovering the cords that extended from the sides and yanking them out to save even a fraction of a second.

As she reached Eddie again, Grace gagged at the blood on one end of the hook-up system the device boasted; it flaked off in her hands. She sighed and bit her lip, watching and cringing at the sound the clamp made as it attached to Eddie's chest. She held the other end with a shaking hand and shook her head. "God, please… he shouldn't be gone." With one more whisper, she painfully begged, "Please let this work."

And she attached the other end just above her heart.

A whirling noise rose in the machine and all Grace could feel was searing pain. She fought not to scream, instead reaching for Eddie's chest and vibrating her hands despite the painful fog over her mind. The blue sparks came and she pressed down on his still form, sending one… two… three…

four jolts.

But if her plan worked or not, Grace didn't know.

She passed out, the device falling away from both as she lost consciousness.

* * *

_-when i wrote this months ago, the new season hadn't started, and i haven't seen the finale (i did, however, watch Eddie get shot… i cried :'( he was pretty good, even though i didn't like him much at first), but let's just imagine this could've happened… kinda AU here, after all…)_

* * *

Cisco needed a minute.

The tension was too much. The death of Eddie was too much. His new knowledge, Thawne's drain from existence…

he needed a minute.

But before his mind registered thing one, he realized he was in the room where Eddie shot himself-

there was no body.

Eddie wasn't there.

Instead…

"No." Cisco fell to the floor, gently but quickly rolling over the thin body of Grace.

Her hair was streaked with blond now, her face was deathly pale, and Eddie's injury now decorated her chest.

She was breathing, but barely.

Cisco scooped her up and bolted, getting her onto an infirmary bed and hooked up to the same devices they'd used on Barry…

after all, her scans showed something devastating.

Grace was in a coma.

There was barely any brain activity; she was just about gone.

But… if Grace… how in the world had she pulled this off?

Cisco decided to check the room's security footage later, when re-watching Eddie's death (and now Grace's similar tragedy) would have just a fraction less of a sting.

He ran a hand through her hair and sighed. This was too much.

Where was Eddie?

* * *

On the other side of the city, a pastor and his wife were leaving their church; the Sunday service was all mapped out, the new flower arrangements for the front were in place-

and there was a bundle on the sidewalk leading up to the church's steps.

"Mark!" The blond haired woman, just recently into her forties, knelt by what she discovered was a toddler, about three, with fiery red hair and a pale, bruise-smudged face. He was having trouble breathing. She looked up when no response came, her husband pulling out his phone.

"911? Yes, I need an ambulance at…"

* * *

As soon as Cisco left the room, leaving Grace behind, her eyes shot open.

And they were a pale grey.

Squinting against the light, her deathly toned eyes floated around the room.

She felt so weak, but she got herself standing and pulled out everything she was hooked to.

There was no point.

Either live her live as a comatose vegetable…

or…

wait…

why was everything spinning?

Grace felt her unresponsive body lift from the bed and slam into something solid. A loud bang was the result, and she fell in an unmoving heap.

The last thing she saw before everything went black was a grey blur standing over her.

* * *

_-so…_

_that was a little crazy on my part. again, i'm so sorry for the wait! and sorry for not posting the pictures… again. :(_

_sorry for any mistakes :(_

_thank you all so much for the reviews and support, and the name suggestions! next week... what happened to Grace?_


	14. Of Letting Go

(Six months later)

A taller girl, with a tattered hood pulled up over her face and pale shades covering her eyes, slipped through the streets of Central City. Her shoes were faded and torn, well worn from stumbling in exhausted stupors, running from cops who thought CPS needed a call, and trekking around the city for an odd job or two.

She was exhausted and disoriented even now, hungry and alone as she dodged an angry suit and tie swinging a heavy briefcase. Six months had passed since…

since everything started.

She held in her hand a crumpled paper, marred with a shoe print. Another flyer for Flash Day.

Flash Day…

Without context, that didn't sound like a good day, and she almost smirked at the thought.

But she was tired, in pain, and starving. If she showed up at this event, people would be likely to drop food. Not a lot of food, and probably half-eaten, spit-soaked food, but it was still food.

And for some reason, even filling her shrunken stomach once in a long while wasn't enough…

She reached the stage set up for the celebration and ceremony, heading for a place to hide. Heading behind a metal beam holding up the stage, she sighed and tried to catch her breath. The wheezing was definitely a problem. But she needed money in order to get medicine, and money wasn't something she had-

ow.

What'd she just walk into?

Looking up painfully slow, she saw a man in a dark jacket with a camera, light brown hair partly in his face. He frowned. "Sorry. Are you alright?" he apologized, looking her over.

She nodded, mumbling, "Yeah. Sorry, sir… my fault," before slipping past him.

She heard a camera shutter click and just kept walking.

* * *

Two days passed, and still nothing.

Just a grey blur.

And a void.

And slamming from one solid thing to another.

Her ribs still hurt, throbbing with every step, like the rest of her body. She felt like a part of her was missing…

aside from her memory.

Walking past a preschool playground, she noticed a little boy with bright red hair and big green eyes. He smiled at her and waved.

He was the first one to notice her existence.

She smiled and waved back, biting back a groan as her body protested even that movement. He looked familiar…

Was she supposed to know him?

Without a second thought, he went back to playing with a couple other children in the sandbox, and she went back to limping along the sidewalk.

He wasn't important at all…

right?

* * *

Another day ticked by.

Not eating in three days was taking its toll.

Too weak to even move, the girl curled into a ball on her side, huddled to keep warm. The wind was sharp, slicing her aching muscles like knives.

There was no way she could walk. There was no way she could keep going, not in this condition.

She was just too tired.

A shadow fell over her tired frame, and she squinted, looking up at…

a blur.

Something beeped, someone started talking really fast, and the world tipped upside down and into darkness as she passed out, too tired to care.

* * *

"… hear me? Please… don't be dead! I have enough going on, and Caitlin just left…"

She forced her aching eyelids open at the voice echoing from a far away land. Looked up-

who was this Latino-toned guy?

Long hair, dark eyes that looked kind but stressed, and…

was that a gun on the table behind him?!

"Woah! Okay, you're not dead! Thank God!" He stepped closer, a shirt with Darth Vader's mask (and a handful of stains) hanging loosely off his shoulders. "Your eyes… oh no."

She sat up, trembling from both the exertion and fear. "Wha-" she broke off in a horrible cough, her dry throat blocking any speech.

He stared in shock. Or horror? She wasn't sure. "Grace?"

She stared at the man blankly; why did he seem so vaguely familiar?

The man's jaw dropped. "It's you. Your eyes are the same… everything is except your hair and your skin. G-Grace…" he stammered at the end, biting a knuckle as he tried to process what he was seeing.

"… you don't remember?"

He grabbed a frigid water bottle off a cluttered coffee table and gave it to her, removing the cap first. She gulped half of it down and by the look on this man's face, she'd done it again.

She'd gone too fast.

Her newest acquaintance shook his head. "So many feels right now… Grace, it's me, Cisco. Do you remember anything? Anything at all?" he asked, talking to her like one would an injured child.

A moment went by in silence.

She sighed. "N-nothing's there. I…" she frowned and stared at him, trying to hold off passing out from exhaustion for just a few more minutes. "Are you… like me?"

Cisco waved. his hands. "Super-speed? Uh-uh. No way. Not-"

"You have powers, don't you?"

He gaped. "Okay, so what if I do? Grace, you're back! After six months! Does anything ring a bell? Barry? Caitlin? Iris? Joe? Eddie? W-"

Eddie!

For some reason her mind snapped back to the child from the play ground and everything spun as she returned to reality. "Eddie… he… sounds familiar," she gasped out, Cisco grabbing her arm and gently lowered her back onto the couch he'd deposited her on earlier so she could rest.

"He should." Cisco left it at that and found a box of granola bars, urging her to eat at least two. The effort it took on her part was mammoth, but the girl decided during the process that apparently, based on this Cisco's rambling, her name was Grace and he knew her before all this chaos unfolded in her life.

After getting down the last hunk of food, Grace had to admit she felt a little better. Cisco got her laying back down, under a thin blanket and with a fluffy, well-used pillow under her head. He grinned as she went to sleep. "Guess we might get to use that suit after all."

* * *

"You mentioned a suit earlier?"

Cisco waited two days, nursing the girl he insisted was Grace back to health.

Turns out, while she was asleep, he took a blood sample.

And had Caitlin run it at S. T. A. R. Labs.

Tested positive.

This was Grace.

Powers and exhaustion and all.

"Yeah," Cisco answered, revealing the space in the wall that contained the blue suit. "This has been waiting for you… for a long time."

Grace looked at it with a tiny grin. Still tired, she was pale. But that wasn't what threw him off about her appearance.

Her hair…

the blond streaks were scary.

Cisco has seen what she'd done when he touched her to take care of her. He saw her grab the device, hook it up-

and switch worlds for only seconds.

After being slammed into what he knew as Earth 2, Grace was thrown back through the portal as she phased back.

Her speed was intact.

Her mind was not.

"Looks cool," she commented, reaching up to touch the material. "But we have one tiny problem."

"What?" Cisco was now scared, mentally chanting, "please be an easy fix, please be an easy fix'-

Grace looked down. "Something's wrong with my eyes. I… I can't see well when I run, or now, actually. T-that wall behind you with the screen?"

"Yeah?" Cisco looked where she was pointing.

"I can't read it."

Okay, so not so bad…

after all, the screen only said "S. T. A. R. Labs" in huge white font…

"So… lenses?"

Grace shrugged. "If it means I can run without looking out of place in hobo clothes, I'll try anything."

Cisco smirked, rubbing his hands together with glee. "This is gonna be awesome!" Grace was still the same. Still eager to help, still self-sacrificing, and still hungry as ever.

Now…

how did he tell the others about-

"Cisco, do you have any of those-"

Both turned as Barry walked in, eyes wide. "Grace?"

Grace turned and frowned as Barry said weakly, "Where's the suit from?"

Cisco gaped. "Uh, that's a great question. Um… Barry, Grace is alive, first of all."

Barry nodded. "I can see that."

"Annnd-" he stopped Barry cold, who was grabbing his phone. "Caitlin already knows. That's why she's not here."

Confused, Barry frowned and looked at Grace, realization taking over his tired features. "You don't remember us, do you?"

She shook her head. "No... I don't. I know you're all familiar, but there's nothing there. Really... sorry."

"It's not your fault," Barry consoled her, glad the girl he'd come to know as a sister was actually alive and not dead from the pull of the anomaly, but sad she didn't know any of them. "So... what now?"

Cisco started pulling the suit from its model. "Caitlin's out tying up the loose ends... we've already forged a fake identity for Grace. Same first name, different last name. Ross, I think. Anyways," he brushed some dust from a shoulder, "She'll be living in an apartment near Caitlin, because she still has her powers."

"You do?"

Grace nodded. "Yeah. I... I want to help you. I don't know if I'll be any good, but I want to try. The speed is the only thing that's a constant."

Barry looked over at the one table where, for six months, Grace's bag from about a year ago lay. He picked it up and handed it to her. "This might help."

Cisco face-palmed, stopping his work. "Why didn't I think of that?!"

Grace smiled. "Thanks." She opened it and started going through her old stuff, flickers of recognition appearing now and then, especially when she pulled out her Bible.

"So..." Cisco sat the suit on the table by her a few minutes later. "You need a name."

"Here we go," Barry joked, quickly taking a sip of his coffee.

"How about... Blaze?"

Grace thought a moment, but Barry beat her to the punch. "That is a Sonic character, last time I checked."

Grace spoke up then. "How about Blue Blaze?"

Cisco cringed. "I hate when there's a color in the name... but honestly," his grin was wider than a kid's on Christmas morning, "I think it really suits you."

"Now..." Grace picked up the suit. "I'm dying to test this out."

* * *

_-thank you all so much for your patience and your name suggestions! so many of you had overlapping ideas, and i loved all the suggestions! :)_

_final chapter up around Thanksgiving! :)_


	15. I Guess We'll Never Know

_-this is the end! wow, thanks for sticking with me, even with the delays!_

_this takes place after "Gorilla Warfare"._

* * *

FLASH AND COMPANY?

ANOTHER METAHUMAN HITS THE STREETS

SCARLET SPEEDSTER JOINED BY BLUE BLAZE

Cisco grinned as he tossed down the last newspaper. "_Picture News_ got your name right…"

Iris just grinned from where she stood behind Cisco, holding a copy of the paper as well. Cisco smirked at her and she slapped his shoulder. "What? The alliteration helped."

Grace just sat on the one medical table, her suit off and replaced with a tank top and shorts. She'd dug up her right leg and arm a little too well when she was caught in an explosion and thrown. Barry found her ten miles from the blown up barn (unoccupied, thankfully), her suit torn and singed and smoking. He scooped her up and raced back to S.T.A.R. Labs, her body aching too much for her to run, or walk. Or stand.

Harrison walked in and Barry felt Grace tense as he finished with dabbing alcohol over the almost healed abrasions. Even if she didn't remember Dr. Wells, she bristled whenever Harry showed up. "You look better," he commented dully, reviewing his sheath of notes quickly.

"Thanks…" Grace whispered, grinning as Joe and Caitlin walked in with five bulging bags of take-out and three drink carriers.

Joe handed Barry and Grace three of the bags and one drink carrier. "Thanks, Joe," Grace said softly. He patted her left shoulder, watching for her inevitable wince or flinch.

Nothing.

Ever since losing her memory, Grace was afraid of being touched. She didn't want any contact with anyone. Except Barry. Why that was, Joe didn't know.

Cisco just grinned through a mouthful of burger as Grace started chowing down like the rest of them. She was gaining weight. Not much; the weight was about five pounds. And it only brought her closer to a normal weight… for a fourteen year old.

Grace wasn't fourteen…

Barry smirked as she muttered something about super-healing and how tingly her right side was. "That would be normal."

She giggled, blushing a little. "It feels like the right side of my body went to sleep… it's annoying!"

Everyone noticed her quick, scared rabbit glances at the doctor's back. Well, everyone but the arrogant doctor himself. Good ol' Harry just wanted to get his own daughter back, and it burned him to his core that Joe had his second "daughter" back. He was happy, if he was forced to admit it, that Grace was alive and mostly well. But looking at her just reminded him of what he was struggling to get back.

Ultimately, everyone was learning and growing together. Cisco was planning to use his powers to maybe find a way to give Grace some of her past back. How he'd do that, he wasn't sure. But it was a tangible idea… he hoped.

Caitlin was different; Barry noticed, but decided losing Ronnie was a good deal of the cause. It wasn't a big difference in character. He hoped she was okay.

Iris was the same. A little less innocent since Eddie's death and all the events afterwards. But she was still the good friend Barry had grown up with, and he didn't want that to change. (Okay, maybe he did... but he was with Patty, so Iris wasn't an option.)

Joe was tired. Anyone could see that. Joe was happy. Anyone knew that. And Joe was starting to become a little more used to the idea of a new metahuman popping up every week. He just wanted to protect his new family from the horrors that unfortunately came with this side job.

And Barry?

Barry was overwhelmed with everything. His world was chaotic and as far from normal as he could imagine. But he wouldn't trade anything for the last two years, especially now that his father was a free man. He was happy. Exhausted, a bit battered, but happy.

And seeing Grace's grin as she wiped a smudge of ketchup from her chin gave him another reason to love his new life.

He didn't want to know where he'd be without his new family.

* * *

_-the end! wow... it's over :( but Turn Around is still being updated, if anyone's interested!_

_the title and chapter names are from Owl City's "Rainbow Veins"._

_thanks again for all the reviews and support, guys! :) God bless!_


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